Rich First Time Buyers push house prices up, leaving others behind.

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]These aren't the only five by any means, right?

[00:00:04]Happy Five Fact Friday. Five fact Friday. I'm Charlie Landon and it is Five Fact Friday.

[00:00:15]Good morning everybody.

[00:00:18]It's not It can't be Friday already. It cannot be Friday. I refuse to believe it. The reason I'm late for this live stream is because it's it's just not possibly Friday yet.

[00:00:28]There's some weird distortion of the time. Anyway, I I'm I'm not ready, but I Well, I I've got enough to be going on with. Welcome to another Five-Fack Friday.

[00:00:41]Um I'm Charlie Lamb and this is Moving Home with Charlie. I'm laughing at my own chaotic disorganization. Uh, and in today's Five Fact Friday, where I cover the five things that I've seen reported, newly reported that I think most significantly affect the housing market, either in the short term or the long term or both. They're the things that I would want to know if I was moving house.

[00:01:05]Um, because the considerations are if I'm if I'm out there in the market right now buying, what do I need to know? That's useful stuff. And also, if I'm about to buy or sell or move, what what does the future hold the year or two or three years ahead in terms of the housing market? So, that's why there's always a mixture of stuff that feels like it's right now and stuff that feels like it's talking about the future.

[00:01:29]There's no point talking about the past.

[00:01:31]Can't change that, can we? Um, and I want to kick off with with um it's funny, this is not one of the five facts, right, Mr. West Streeting here yesterday posting this video saying he wants to make council uh capital gains tax equal to income tax.

[00:01:54]And in this video he explains why uh the the marginal rate of tax being paid by by ordinary workers is 28%.

[00:02:05]Well, that's the lowest it is. Um, and capital gains tax can be as low as 18%, he says in the video, but it's typically 24%.

[00:02:15]And he goes, "That's not fair, is it?

[00:02:17]Rich guys making 24 only only paying 18% while you're paying 28%." I mean, they're both disingenuous lies. But the point, the worst point of all is that they are two completely separate things and you cannot compare one with the other for this simple reason.

[00:02:33]capital gains tax, which is fine and it's something that everyone accepts, wealthy people accept it, don't like it, but they accept it, is there to take a share of the proceeds when people who risk their money have the risk pay off.

[00:02:51]Okay, income tax, there's no chance of losing money when you get a job, right? You get a job, you're going to get paid. You're going to get paid every month, paid every week, that's it. and you get taxed on your income. You're taxed on your work.

[00:03:04]The company that employs you is taxed on your work. It's a stupid stupid tax. Um income tax is is genuinely a really stupid tax. Um and there are much better ways of of handling it. But taxing someone's work, and by the way, let's remember that they tax both the employee and the employer.

[00:03:26]And is an it is an employment tax levied on both employee and employer. whether you're talking about uh PAE uh uh or national insurance contributions, right?

[00:03:36]It's a stupid tax. I'm not defending that tax, but that is tax on the activity of working. And if someone doesn't work, neither employee nor employer pay that tax. Capital gains tax is when you buy something, you invest your your your money into something and there's a risk that you could lose all your money.

[00:03:57]But that investment into the things that are risky and could fail like businesses that employ people um there is a risk and the reason that investors take those risks is because the returns are higher on the riskier investments. So there are people who are taking money risking all of it to create businesses and create jobs as well as other things.

[00:04:22]uh and if they make money on it then the government takes 24% of it with certain discounts here and there. Okay. So you can't compare a tax on people's work stupid tax on people's work with a tax on speculation where there is a risk of total loss. Okay? It's just not comparing apples and apples. And and the reason I'm I'm including it in this week's Five Fact Friday is because the vast majority of jobs come from private sector companies, right? The overwhelming vast majority of jobs. Jobs is what everyone needs. What the economy needs is what you need if you want to buy a house. It's what you need. If you want to live and buy a house, you need a job. Jobs are what we need more of, especially for young people.

[00:05:08]This government has presided over the worst rise in youth unemployment in a very very long time since the '9s I think because of their stupid stupid employment taxes that they promised at the election that they wouldn't do. And this is only going to make it worse because they're now going to t if they do decide to increase capital gains tax, they're going to tax the very source of new businesses and new jobs. I mean, it's the it's about the only thing even more stupid than an employment tax. This isn't a political point, right? This is a purely financial economic point, right? Where else can we tax a rich A TAX THE RICH PEOPLE? They're making money. Just tax them. Yeah, but why are they making money? Because they're risking the money on new businesses that make jobs. Ah, tax them anyway. It's it's like it's like advertising that you simply don't understand where jobs come from.

[00:06:11]Okay, that's why I mean we're streeting who whose politics I don't like but who I've always been sort of impressed with as a reasonably competent switched on intelligent guy has just come out as thick as a brick. I mean thick as a brick. I I rank him up alongside Gary Stevenson with this nonsense, right? And my passion on this topic is about getting people more jobs and more life chances and the chance to get a home.

[00:06:37]That's my right. No job, you're not going to get a mortgage. Right? It's that simple. And we're already seeing the worst youth unemployment in a very long time. And it's getting worse. And yesterday, Alan Milburn's report says, and it's going to keep getting worse for some time. It's going to be a whole lost generation. And this policy that Streeting is talking about would literally press the accelerator on unemployment.

[00:07:03]End of rant. End of rant. Oh, what an absolute truckit.

[00:07:11]And woo, I find it very difficult not to get genuinely upset and and angry about politicians who are risking nothing if they get it wrong, right? Risking nothing.

[00:07:28]They're not risking their capital.

[00:07:29]They're not risking their job. Oh, they might go get elected back. If they don't get elected back in, it's because they've done a terrible job. But they will get another job. West Streeting, whatever happens is going to be fine.

[00:07:41]He's in the club. He's going to be fine.

[00:07:43]He's going to get speaking to he's going to get like job offers left, right, and center, right? He is risking nothing. He is gambling on the other hand people. I I said I'd stop, didn't I? He is gambling people's futures on his own political progression. And I find that truly disgusting.

[00:08:05]We deserve a better class of politician across the board. Across the board.

[00:08:12]Getting I'm getting Someone tell me something to cheer me up.

[00:08:22]How's that for an unscripted rant? Good morning, everybody. I I'll now run. How long? Eight minutes. Sorry. Um Tom H.

[00:08:33]Uh uh uh got some Yeah, got some good questions coming already.

[00:08:40]Um okay, Saj, okay, you're getting there with your questions. Uh I'll have to come back to questions. Let me go through the five facts uh in in in headline style. In today's Five Fact Friday, uh 58% of deals are falling through.

[00:09:01]Now, that's just the worst nightmare for everyone involved when a deal falls through. Agent, buyer, and seller.

[00:09:08]Excuse me. Um, London agents admit that asking prices are up to 27% too high.

[00:09:15]Well, I mean, we we knew that, but to hear it coming from an agent is interesting. We'll get into that because if you want to sell your house, you need to know about this. Houseu builder Barrett Redro CEO says a whole generation is being left behind from home ownership and first-time buyer conditions are as bad as the as in 2008.

[00:09:36]Demands more government help doesn't admit that government help has contributed to affordability issues.

[00:09:42]That's my opinion opinion on the end of that fact. Fact number four. Former Labour minister and chair of the Social Mobility Foundation, Alan Milbour warns of lost generation as youth unemployment spirals.

[00:09:59]It's encouraging to hear someone of his stature saying the same as me at last and making the headlines because these young people will never own a home of their own at this rate.

[00:10:10]Fact number five, Zupller reports a sharp 10% drop in buyer demand in its May house price index. This is a worrying leading indicator of a coming fall in transaction volumes and prices.

[00:10:24]But there's also some really interesting data around firsttime buyer prices that are behaving very differently from Zupus. We'll get into that as well.

[00:10:33]Right, can everyone hear me? Can everyone see me? Is the internet connection okay today?

[00:10:40]Um, shy blush one. Hi there, Teemo.

[00:10:43]Norfolk echo.

[00:10:46]Okay, let's get into this. Let's get into this. Let's get into this and let's So, UK house sale collapses cost economy 2 billion pounds a year. Uh, um, the open property data association finds.

[00:11:04]Okay, so this is 58% of property transactions falling through after offer acceptance. Now, that's twice as high as the usual one in three agreed deals falling through that you hear. However, the data on that is extremely sketchy and it doesn't count the repeated uh fall throughs that happen on one sale. And you can have sales where there are two, three, four fallth throughs before it finally sells. It's only counted as one sale failing. So, it's interesting to see this data. Um, is this actually going to be readable for you guys? Uh, let's go back to the usual format.

[00:11:53]There we go.

[00:11:56]Um, now this is a this is a really really important it's it's it's one of those boring but important topics. You hear about it all the time. Oh, deals falling through, deals falling through. And you hear people saying, "Oh, the government must change the system." It's it's nothing. Please, please, government stay well away from this system.

[00:12:17]As I've proved with the uh uh case studies and experiments I've done with agents, you can consistently consistently sell a house at top market price in less under 90 days. Okay? It's not the system that's broken. It is the incentives and the stupid games that people play in the industry. Okay? It's not the system itself. Do not touch the system because the system allows for a wellprepared buyer and a wellprepared seller to exchange contracts in seven days. There's nothing wrong with the system.

[00:12:48]the outcomes are broken, but that's because the incentives are all wrong and messed up. Now, I'm not going to get into that right now. All I would say is this. If you are a seller, the best way to reduce to the best things within your control to reduce the chances of a fall through is to get the legals, the search pack, and a survey done upfront.

[00:13:17]Because when you market your property with those things, you're basically saying, "We're selling. Here's the house, warts and all. Here's the stuff that's going to come out six months down the line in in the transaction process if we didn't bring it up front anyway."

[00:13:30]And what most sellers are are doing is they're afraid of going, "Well, let's just present it as a lovely house. Let's get someone to fall in love with it and then and then later if they find out there's a problem, it might be renegotiated, but it'll be fine." No, that's a waste of everyone's time and it causes this wasted time and money and missed opportunities.

[00:13:46]Um, it not only does it not cost any extra to do the stuff up front, you're going to have to spend this money anyway, it also massively improves the market for your home when your agent because and then the problem you got is that most agents uh just don't help with this. Don't offer it. They don't do it. uh they know because there so that most agents confidence in selling a house is so low anyway that they would not in all good conscience advise you to spend money up front because you're you're going to lose the money.

[00:14:16]Um and that's why the only solution is is to f make sure you find an agent that understands how to to market the property as well. This is this is what's difficult about agency. Okay, you need to be good at a lot of different things to get this to happen consistently. But as a seller, you need to be finding an agent that helps you get your property fully sale prepared. And that will massively reduce the time it takes to sell and the chance of fall throughs for reasons I won't go into now. And if you're a buyer, it's actually quite similar. Um, to be fair, the reason that buyers pull out, I mean, one in three first-time buyers pulls out because they simply change their mind and go, "Actually, faced with the reality of this, I don't think it's a good idea."

[00:14:56]And that's where really good estate agents come and they will qualify those buyers out that they're good at spotting them. But as a buyer, um you massively improve your chances of having your offer accepted by being prepared. So in short, guys, it's be prepared and choose a good agent. Uh because this is costing everyone a lot of time and money and it slows down the whole uh it slows down the whole process for everybody. That's fact number one, right? So there are actually far more falls than people realize. Uh and there's a long list of reasons for it and this is exactly what we're addressing with best agent best agent.co.uk. This is exactly the whole improving the probability of transactions succeeding in less time is everything that we're focusing on and we are working with our partners to put together effectively a very low or no risk option of your conveyance, your broker, your your surveyor, your search pack in in like one click all done and to offer people the insurance against these lost costs, right? Because this is understandably putting a lot of people off moving.

[00:16:08]The chances are 50/50 at best on average. You got to put a lot of money up front. It's risky. You can't afford to lose that money. Ah, let's just not move. So, that's what Best is trying to do is to create a marketplace where moving is much safer, much higher chance of completion, much shorter transaction times. That's what we're working on, right? And next up, okay, this was a real surprise to see.

[00:16:41]Um, asking prices as much as 27% above sale price trends admits agent. Sorry, there's absolute this hail stom happening here.

[00:17:04]Um, this is a really useful thing to be reported because it's going to help. I don't know if you can hear the background. Sorry, it's really distractingly loud. The hail's on the on the roof. Um the fact that an estate agent and they're talking about national house prices is is talking about asking prices 27% too high on average um might help more sellers come to terms with the reality of what's happening for their prices. Okay.

[00:17:40]Across the UK, the average sold price sold price in Q1 this year stood at 268,000, some 27% below the average asking price of 369,000.

[00:18:03]And they go on to explain another gap, the gap between mortgage approved house prices 538,000 and seller asking prices 680,000 narrowed but is still at 26% compared to 26.9%. Okay, so it's narrowed a tiny bit, but this ridiculous gap between asking prices and sale prices, which is a consequence of the overvaluing epidemic in estate agency, which is a self-defeating make everything slower, make everything harder, increase the chance of a fall through uh problem, which has Many there are two different reasons estate agents overvaluing overvalue right number one they overvalue to meet the seller's expectations out of fear of not winning the instruction right a lot of good agents are faced with the reality they go into someone's house and that that person's invited however many agents around it should always be more than three by the way um and they know that their other agents have been around there overvaluing wildly and They know that that's a problem because it's going to make the property hard to sell and they but they still want the chance to sell it. So they are going in there thinking what is the number that I need to say that is going to make this seller believe that I'm not too far below their expectations but also make it not impossible to sell the house. That's one of the reasons. So this is because seller expectations are so high that if agents don't meet them, they don't get they don't get the business. The other reason that agents overvalue is it's a completely deliberate tactic to get you to sign a long solid agency contract. So the first reason is a reluctant one.

[00:20:03]overvaluing reluctantly because right move says this and the ONS says that and record house prices this and all that kind of crap and you know that's what uh and and Zupller's price you online valuation says there's all these things that don't help agents but those agents don't want to overvalue uh but the other agents are very very happy the ones that the Foxtons and the Dexters of this world will happily just lie to your face wildly about the value of your property and here is the proof Right.

[00:20:35]28% difference on average between asking prices and sold prices.

[00:20:40]Anyway, that's fact number what was that? Fact number two. Yes, two. Okay.

[00:20:45]On to fact number three.

[00:20:51]Now, this is the Barrett Redro CEO being interviewed a couple of days ago on a BBC podcast.

[00:21:00]Um, just listen to this for a second.

[00:21:02]left behind.

[00:21:03]>> Of course, of course there is. You know, if you look at the way that >> right, >> you're not solving the problem, >> but I think you've got to pull two levers for a period of time because if you don't, then you leave a whole generation behind. And that I I think is an absolutely key point.

[00:21:20]>> Is there a risk of a whole generation being left behind?

[00:21:23]>> Of course. Of course there is. You know, if you look at the way that housing purchases, housing starts, home ownership for first-time buyers, the way that the age of the, you know, the average firsttime buyer is increasing and increasing, these are all factors that that lead towards generational inequalities. put it in a bit of context given you know you've been a >> um now that that's true but basically he goes on to talk about how you know there was there used to be lots of government help and there needs to be more government help and he doesn't acknowledge of course he wouldn't because he's he's a house builder CEO doesn't acknowledge the damage that help Dubai did to affordability okay and effectively it's a pitch it's a it's campaigning to say look the government needs to give buyers more money so that they can pay our inflated prices on houses. It it's just I mean yeah there's there's this is relevant as well because there is a generation being left behind and Richard will come out it's on the on the on the last fact right so this is fact number three fact number five is linked to this and it's a really interesting point because the problem is not going away for first-time buyers at the moment with in terms of prices and that's why a lot of first-time buyers are being left behind which Richard Donald reports in his Zupla price index Okay, this is all linked together, right? Because of course, another reason that a lot of first-time buyers have been left behind is because they can't get jobs. They can't save up.

[00:22:58]Um there are a number of factors that affect house prices at first-time buyer level.

[00:23:12]um mortgage lending multiples being one of the ones that has the strongest upwards extended multiples. So salary multiples, right? Uh interest rates make a difference but not a huge difference.

[00:23:25]Interest rates tend to tend to sort of put the brakes on transactions or take the brakes off transactions. They don't make that much difference to prices directly. A lot of people can't get their head around that. We have we've done the data. Uh Stiggy and I have done the data. Um, but then of course there's the purely the actual raw number of firsttime buyers in the market. And when people lose a job, it takes them out of the market that you're your and look at the buyer demand we're coming on to with Zuper where it's 10% down year on year.

[00:23:55]I mean this this youth unemployment crisis that I have been shouting about all year and I'm really really happy to see that it's now reaching the headlines. I I'm happy to see that it's reaching the headlines, but I'm furious that this completely predictable and therefore avoidable result of policies that the government was warned would result in this, namely employment employers national insurance contributions being rised hiked uh and minimum wage being hiked. And I've had people push back on X, oh, they they they've got allowances on national insurance for the young stuff. Yeah, but you don't understand when the overall cost of employment as an employer increases, it is always the youngest people that get hit the hardest. So even if there is a bit of a national insurance allowance for people under 25 or whatever it is, it's not enough to offset the overall increase in this. But the minimum wage hike is the worst part. Actually, there was a guy that did an amazing breakdown of this on X yesterday about exactly why hiking minimum wage and I and I got into a ding-dong with someone about it.

[00:25:07]Of course, we all want everyone's wages to be higher.

[00:25:15]And the only time that that happens is when employers are making bigger profits because the profits is where the budget for more employment and higher wages comes from. And without those profits, you don't get more jobs or wage growth.

[00:25:35]And and the profit is considered a dirty word and it isn't. Profit is the source of all jobs.

[00:25:43]ultimately even in the public sector because the public sector jobs are paid for by taxpayers and taxpayers pay tax on their jobs.

[00:25:56]And so if you don't have people in jobs paying tax, the government's budget goes down and they've got so we see we see government cuts.

[00:26:07]Without profit, there's no growth. And while we have this growing movement about ah the rich and greedy businesses and it's it's a very very unfortunate way of making a bad problem worse. Wages are too low. There aren't enough jobs. Youth unemployment is going up. This affects everybody. Everyone. All of us. Employed or not. It affects all of us because it affects our families. Okay? It affects government services. It affects everything. So attacking private sector profits, attacking capital gains tax will make this worse. But what happens is Labor governments, they always do this. Um, you see, I I I have voted Labor in the past because I have felt that right-wing parties haven't done enough for the genuinely vulnerable and those genuinely unable to fend for themselves and to contribute themselves.

[00:27:07]And I felt that that past governments were riding the gravy train of of capital growth and enjoying it. That's great. And that was lifting some boats, but they were leaving too many people behind, you know, and really important people like people like nurses were just being overlooked and left behind. And nurses wages were just an absolute joke.

[00:27:25]And that that is why that is a part of the left-wing agenda that I I support, which is that it it is ultimately always self-destructive to just leave people behind.

[00:27:39]And you then get the people in the middle who are not incapable of helping themselves. They're not unable to work.

[00:27:46]They're able to work, but it's now getting harder for them to work. And they're not getting paid enough. And if you can't get paid enough to have a to a decent life, the motivation to get up out of bed and go to work every day starts to diminish. If you if getting up and going to work every day results in you having nice home, enough money to go on holiday, you know, and do a few things and enjoy your life, then hey, guess what? You're going to be happy about working.

[00:28:10]But the solution to that, you have to remember the solution to people getting nice pay comes first and foremost even ultimately for the public sector from profits in the private sector. It's that simple. It's just maths. This isn't this isn't political ideology. It's simple straightforward maths. And anyone who doesn't believe that, you are clinging to a basis ideology which has countless case studies around the world of showing that it doesn't work. You cannot improve people's wealth by simply forcing wages up. Okay. So the youth unemployment crisis is getting worse because of forcing minimum wages up. Rishi Sunnak even admitted it recently this week I think in an interview said that when he increase minimum wage it was a mistake and he wish he hadn't done it.

[00:28:59]Minimum wage is fine in a rising economy, in a growing rising economy, right? Makes sense. But the moment minimum wage makes young and less experienced people less financially viable for an employer, guess what happens? Guess what happens?

[00:29:26]So honestly this is becoming for me the overriding crisis in this country is youth unemployment and their unemployment figures out recently just yeah anyway ramble bamble bambble let's go on to the next one right Zupla uh so zup plus house presidents came out yesterday or day four uh uh again national average figures one and a half% house prices are up nationally but of course wildly varies different countries only 1% increase on sales agreed versus a year ago 10 grand increase in the average buyer of a first time the average price of a first time buy a home. This is the interesting thing we're going to look at because this really you've got to understand if you're a buyer or a seller the fact that that that market is is behaving differently to the rest of the market.

[00:30:19]Okay.

[00:30:20]Um and let's get into this because it it really is fascinating.

[00:30:25]I think so.

[00:30:31]Um, headlines are, uh, buyer demand down 10%, sales agreed 1% up. Committed home movers support sales. Um, 6% fewer first-time buyer inquiries. Right? So, first-time buy inquires are going down.

[00:30:48]That's one of the uh uh consequences of youth unemployment going up. But those who are active are targeting homes worth 10 grand more than last year. 4% up. So first-time buyers are paying 4% higher prices than they were a year ago. So yeah, on average across the country, prices are rising for first-time buyers faster than inflation.

[00:31:10]Uh house prices are flat to negative in London and southern regions, but increasing by more than 3% across northern regions. Again, this is blending all the different property types, isn't it's not really helpful, but it does highlight the difference between the south, the south, and the north.

[00:31:24]Um, housing activity is holding up in the face of uncertainty.

[00:31:32]Um, well, the actual transaction deals numbers aren't going down, but what's what should be happening this time of year is that they should be going up, but with fewer buyers, outlook remains finally balanced. Now, finally, balance is one of my favorite new terms for sitting on the fence and trying to give a warning without giving a warning.

[00:31:56]Sellers should seek advice from an estate agent. Well, I would add to that.

[00:32:00]Sellers should seek advice from a good estate agent.

[00:32:05]Not as easy as it sounds. Accurate pricing is essential. Agree with that.

[00:32:10]So, here is the Let me look at that graph, right? That's 9.6% 6% drop in buyer demand.

[00:32:17]Let's get this over here. Let's get it bigger.

[00:32:20]Stock of homes for sale 3% up. So that's a you know the widening there of 12% 13% between buyer demand and and stock going up. So so the supply and demand is getting worse. Uh but buyer demand that's new buyer registrations that doesn't translate into purchases for some time. So that big drop in buyer demand is a an early warning sign of uh making it harder and harder to sell and harder and harder to keep prices up.

[00:32:48]Now having said that firsttime buyers are spending more not settling for less.

[00:33:00]And then I'll come on to a comment that Richard Donald made about this on his LinkedIn post.

[00:33:06]M first- time buyers are targeting homes. They're not t I don't think they're targeting homes. It makes it sound like they're working as an army.

[00:33:13]Right guys, let's target the homes that are 10 grand more.

[00:33:17]They're not compromising what they're buying. The key that is the key finding from our latest data. It explains why UK house price has edged higher this month despite a market where overall buyer demand is running 10% below last year.

[00:33:31]I I think there's just a timing difference there.

[00:33:35]Now let's look at this graph. This is the graph I think is really interesting because what this graph does is it separates out the first the median first time buyer purchase price from the whole market. So those pink columns are first-time buyer prices in the different regions and the purple columns are the overall prices of the whole market. Look at the difference in price growth year-on-year price growth between first-time buyers and the rest of the market. So if you are a buyer, what this means is you are facing comp a first-time buyer. I mean, you're facing competition.

[00:34:26]Um, and there's more competition for first-time buyer properties and so prices are going up. I mean, look at that. 7.9% in the Northeast year on year. This is 8% rise. West Midlands 7% up. East Midlands nearly 7% up. Wales 6% up first-time buyers. Right. So, if you are selling a firsttime buyer type property because you're upsizing, um, this is this is encouraging news for you if you are the seller of a first-time buyer property. I mean, look, in the Southwest, we're still talking about only 1.9% higher than a year ago. So, there are still massive regional variations for first-time buyers. The Southwest being the lowest growth, 1.9% in the Southwest for first-time buyer prices compared to the Northeast which has got 7.9% firsttime buyer price growth in the last year. Okay.

[00:35:23]Um and it's strange that in the West Midlands the overall uh East and West Midlands the overall house price growth is actually lower than most of the country even though first-time buyers is higher. So, this is this is a subtle and nuanced market.

[00:35:42]Now, what I've got to show you the comment which I think really was was poignant enough for me to to snap it and post it on X.

[00:35:57]is Richard Donald saying, "The finding that surprised me most writing this report was the first time buyers being left behind.

[00:36:06]The qu the credit quality of buyers is rising, but that means that the door is closing for people without equity or family help."

[00:36:17]So, he's warning of a two-tier market for first-time buyers. You know, the ones who've got the means to get a deposit. So, it's equity released from their parents house or or bank of mom and dad or bank of grandma and granddad, whatever. People who've got access to big deposits are able to get big mortgages with big salary multiples and that's driving first-time buyer prices up and the people without access to that capital um are being left behind. There are the words first-time buyers being left behind coming from the director of Zupller.

[00:36:55]So this and this is a lending problem as well because again even if you got a job if you don't have a deposit it's difficult to get a mortgage.

[00:37:07]Okay. Right guys um let's get into some questions.

[00:37:16]Um um Olinia on X you said difficult to question I think what's the question fixing productivity is is the name of the game. Well yeah um okay let me just get through some of your questions. Um Fanny Bunny uh thank you for that. I will come to your question in a minute.

[00:37:46]Um, okay. Interesting question there. I'll get to North Kiko people who create jobs. Bad broad shoulders something.

[00:38:07]It's literally what's happening, isn't it?

[00:38:12]And you know, I I'm going to say something that I know upsets a lot of people.

[00:38:19]I personally know dozens and dozens of people who came from nothing, who did not get great exam results at school and who have started businesses and done really well through simply deciding, I'm going to work hard.

[00:38:39]Is it harder than ever for young people now? Yes, it is. But the opportunities to rely on yourself and not rely on other people never go away. Those opportunities are there.

[00:38:53]And there are a whole array of rudimentary tasks and services that anyone could do if they wanted to. You just need to get started and there's unlimited help on how to get started everywhere.

[00:39:10]If you expect other people to provide you with everything you need, you're going to be more disappointed at this point than usual.

[00:39:22]Um, anyway, that's going to have annoyed some people. Uh, right. Question, question, question.

[00:39:39]Oh, wow.

[00:39:44]Um, a name that I can never pronounce on YouTube. Chinelo Bless. Chinolo Bless, I think. Good morning, Jolly. I've had three failed sales and then finally completing today took your advice and accepted a reasonable offer. Thank you.

[00:39:59]You are welcome and well done.

[00:40:00]Congratulations.

[00:40:04]Um, looking for questions about the moving market right now.

[00:40:14]Yeah, Canopy J says, "House prices at the bottom of the market will not fall with the exception of leaseold flats in London." Um, there are downsizers and first-time buyers competing for these houses. That is true. Yeah. As we've covered many times, John Parnell, we have a government front bench that is financially illiterate. No economy can be taxed into growth. That is true. You cannot cannot cannot. It has never been done. You cannot tax your way into growth. It's literally like sitting in the passenger seat of a car, pulling the handbrake on harder, and telling the driver to drive faster.

[00:41:01]Oh, I see. Okay, that's I'll come back to the question. Uh, oh, this is an interesting point. Hello, uh, Marco Renato, that's a new name, I think. Uh, welcome to the channel. Young people don't seem comfortable to haggle/negotiate. They'd rather just pay asking price for goods like cars and ideally buy online without talking to person out of anxiety. Yes, I agree. I see that all the time.

[00:41:24]And it's strange because it's like it's it's that fear of not sure what just a fear of an awkward conversation.

[00:41:31]And what always surprises me about this, it's it's natural, it's a natural human instinct, but what always surprises me about this is how people are more afraid of an awkward conversation than they are of overextending themselves, putting themselves into debt, and committing a larger proportion of their future earnings to paying someone's interest in debt rather than just saying, "Can you do any better on the price?"

[00:41:57]It's it's literally that simple.

[00:41:59]just it costs nothing to ask that question. It's a bit it's a bit high for me. Can you do any better? Can we come down?

[00:42:07]Being comfortable to stand your ground on what you're comfortable paying with people is one of the key skills in poverty avoidance genuinely.

[00:42:22]Um interesting observation.

[00:42:25]Um and Teemo reacts to that comment saying they can suffer the consequences then or get more confident so confident going to gyms and yeah the consequence but confidence can be grown. Confidence is like a muscle. You can exercise it and grow it but you have to actually exercise it.

[00:42:50]Wow. Ramlar Root saying the data just doesn't match my saved properties at first- time buy level and lots are being reduced in Wales, Scotland, forested, etc. That's interesting. Okay.

[00:43:00]Um, there are always uh always outliers, aren't there?

[00:43:06]OG say on YouTube says, "Service charge aside, what's harder? Selling a leaseold flat with 999 years or a share of freehold flat and why? I'm looking to buy in prime central London but worried a leaseold will be hard to sell in the future. Um in the future leaseold will always be hard to sell. I mean share of freehold by the way is is leaseold. It's just leaseold which also has the share of freehold which is a separate thing but a relevant thing.

[00:43:37]Um share of freehold is better and easier to sell. A leaseold flat with share of freehold generally speaking in comparison to plain leaseold will be easy to sell. So if you're looking to buy in prime central London but wire yeah always try and get the share of freehold if you can um okay got some more things qu so Assange I know you got your questions at the beginning I come back to that uh So, uh, Fanny Bunny, thank you for the super chat. Buyers perspective, how would you go about unresponsive solicitor on the buyer's side? So, you your own solicitor is unresponsive.

[00:44:33]Is that what you're asking? Okay. This is another If that if I've understood the question correctly, what you're saying is you're a buyer, your own solicitors become unresponsive.

[00:44:44]Um, conventionally speaking, uh, you should file a formal complaint with them because a formal complaint they are required to respond to. And if they don't, you can then go to the uh, the SR, the solicitor's regulatory authority or or or something like that and and file a logical a real complaint.

[00:45:06]And those complaints, whether or not they cost, they are a hassle and they are expensive thing to deal with time timewise. Um, so if you genuinely feel you're not getting responses from the people that you're paying, which by the way is what happens when you choose cheap conveyances.

[00:45:19]Um, that's the first thing that's open.

[00:45:23]That's the statutory route, so to speak.

[00:45:27]Uh, but the person with the most incentive in your situation to help with this is probably the agent.

[00:45:36]I would ask the agent that question.

[00:45:37]Say, "Hey, look, I'm the buyer. I really want to buy you. My list is being crap.

[00:45:40]What do I do?" see what the agent suggests in that scenario, especially if it was the agent that registered that that re recommended that solicitor to you. Is that what happened? I'd love to know.

[00:45:54]Um uh okay, Tom, are your questions in two parts?

[00:46:09]I've lost the other part now.

[00:46:13]Right. S first then. Um that's your shout out for PST the search pack guys I work with. Yeah they were fantastic. So guys this is I'm going to use this uh feedback from one of my followers. The search pack company that I work with the search packs that I sell to you guys if you want to use me and which will be used if you use my solicitors are uh it's not just the search packs that are great. The service is fantastic and the speed is very good. Um, so wow they were fantastic on search report on Breckland Council Slen the UK 12 weeks PSD came back with everything in under two weeks.

[00:46:50]So this is why I say use my search pack guys right do not like most conveyancers get very upset when you say you're going to buy your own search and they'll go oh you can't do that we have to do that. No no you go it won't be it won't be approved and regulated. blah bollocks.

[00:47:09]You are the customer. You can be in control. You can say, "No, no. I I'm going to buy the search pack. Thank you very much." The reason they don't like it is because they make a bit of money on it. They can just they can just replace that with their fee. Um, and it also makes them feel like they've got less to do, which is actually a good thing because what happens is solicitors can often forget to order the search pack. That one oversight alone that you will not be aware of with a crap solicitor as a buyer, that can lose you your sale.

[00:47:41]Crap conveyances, simply forgetting to order the search pack until it's too late, then ordering it, then finding out it's a 12week wait, the seller's not going to wait. Okay, this is one of the reasons why I recommend getting your search pack yourself. And there you can get it on the link below, mhwc.co.uk/propy UK/propy pack. By ordering your own search pack as a buyer, you are taking control of this and eliminating the chance of the conveyancer to either do it late or not at all. And secondly, when the search pack results are returned, they come to you immediately and are copied simultaneously to your solicitor.

[00:48:23]Okay? Meaning that if the solicitor is being slow and sleepy and not responding, at least you can respond quickly. You're in control. You are under no obligation to purchase the search pack through your conveyancer.

[00:48:32]You can purchase it yourself. And I recommend that you do so. And I also recommend that you do it because when you're making an offer, if you use my offer email template, you'll see the suggestion there. Um, saying as part of your offer, by the way, if you accept my offer, I will order the search pack on the day the offer is accepted or the day you issue the memorandum of sale as a seller. In other words, you're controlling the speed of the search pack delivery. it it's a nice extra thing.

[00:48:57]It'll show the the the agent that you know what you're doing. It'll increase the chances of the agent recommending your your offer to the seller. So, if you're a buyer, always buy your property pack yourself, your search pack yourself.

[00:49:10]And these guys and me are the only only way you can do it. There are no one else that does it direct to consumer that I that I know of. So, um mhwc.co.uk/propy hyphen pack. And the reason no one else does it, by the way, is because the conveyancers get pissed off and go, "No, no, no, no. We're not going to buy them from you if you don't, you know, it's a ridiculous sort of cartel protectionism backward-looking piece of behavior by conveyances. All right? And if you're a conveyancer watching this bristling about this, well, it's saving you work.

[00:49:38]It's removing a chance for you to make a mistake. Uh, and if you're worried about the the lost income or markup on it, we'll just add that on to your feed.

[00:49:48]Uh, right. Sorry that got over to Thank you, S for um that feedback. It is great. Um, now your actual question though, here's the first question.

[00:50:00]Local authority search shows no building regulations approval/signoff for new roof.

[00:50:08]So, this is on the property that you are buying, right? Where you've had an offer accepted.

[00:50:13]This is a fantastic example of why Best Agent is going to be including local land charge information on property listings to the public because SGE who's been having a nightmare trying to buy a place for ages is still having nightmares. Look at this. this information had the property been on best agent and with our land register connection up live which is not quite yet.

[00:50:43]The buyer would have known this before they made the offer. No building regs approval sign off for the new roof in 2019. Seller won't apply to the local authority for regularization. Does no sign off equal future claim denials by insurers if risks if risk events occur?

[00:51:00]Um that's outside my pay grade SE.

[00:51:02]That's a question you should put to PSD.

[00:51:04]He will know the answer to that question. Um, and you go on to say, I'm about to pull out, am I being overcautious? I get why the seller would do it. Risk of enforcement action if he does plus any building liability and demon insurance invalidated more likely. Yeah, exactly.

[00:51:25]So, this is the seller's risk, not yours.

[00:51:29]um talk to PSD, find out what the option is. Um this is getting to technicalities that are outside my pay grade. So yeah. Um okay.

[00:51:42]Uh JT Brown Personal says, "Streeting is already out of the running. He bungled it at the first opportunity. Thoughts on Burnham?"

[00:51:51]Um well, Burnham's got two things to do before we have to worry about him. He's got to win the Makerfield bi-election.

[00:51:57]And I know the bookies have him as the favorite. I don't think I don't think he's going to win it based on the demographics of the Makefield constituency um on Brexit, on ethnicity, and on um religion.

[00:52:19]I don't think Burnham is going to win.

[00:52:22]I just don't think he's going to win. If if he doesn't win Makerfield, he's not even in the running. If he wins Makerfield, uh I I I mean, you know, he's he's he's one of the favorites to to take over as leader of the Labour party if he wins Makerfield. Um uh if you look at his actual performance as the mayor of Manchester, he's quite popular. He's done some stuff, but he hasn't achieved any of the I mean on new homes building, for example, he made massive promises and broke them.

[00:52:53]um he is he says he wants to build lots of social houses. That's good. Um for reasons I've covered many many times, but I'm I'm a bit worried about his tax policy. I think he's going to be another growth killer.

[00:53:11]Um and you know the powers that be behind the scene to pull the strings like we saw when it was Rishi Sunnak and Liz Truss.

[00:53:21]Um I have no idea. Raina Streeting Milliband uh Burnham I I just don't know. It's not an easy thing. It it's going to be a Labour party splitter. It it's I don't know. I I don't see how that plays out. I just don't see if make, you know, if if Burnham loses the Makerfield bi-election, which I think he will, um, Labour's in a in a pickle, I think, because what it does then is it calls into question Labour's Labour's potential to win an election at all.

[00:54:00]What will they do? Will they try and cling to power, or will an election be forced? I suspect that if Burnham loses Makerfield, an election will happen sooner rather than later.

[00:54:18]I think because of the battle between restore and reform, which is turning into a really juicy fight, um an early election, Labour might go, "You know what?

[00:54:32]Reform's in meltdown. We should do it now quickly because if we wait we're gonna it's it's fascinating. I' I've got lorry loads of popcorn to watch this as it plays out. But um I've gone on too long about that. Next question. Right.

[00:54:47]Um Olinier on X says, "I think there is a sentiment that poor capital allocations result in low productivity and poor wages. If you can't afford to pay your workers, maybe your business should close." Yes, that's a that's a that's a very very silly I mean if you can't afford to pay your workers your business is going to close but before that happens they're going to lose I mean that's one of the most annoying and stupid things people ever say it's it's that people only people who don't understand business ever say that um you know it doesn't matter about your opinion on whether a business should close or not right a business is either viable or it isn't saying that businesses should close is also saying and all of the people who work for you should lose their job. You're also saying that when you say a business should close, you are also saying all the people in that business should lose their jobs and become unemployed. It's a like it is a truly deeply stupid thing to say.

[00:55:45]My question is if capital allocation in the UK is poor, how do we fix it?

[00:55:49]Incentives. Incentives. Incentives. It's that simple.

[00:55:58]Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome. It's that simple.

[00:56:02]People talk about what should happen.

[00:56:04]Well, so and so should do this and they should do that. Who gives us stuff what you think what other someone else should do? It's of no consequence what we think someone should do, right? It's I I just I find that entire approach to things just pointless and stupid. It's just posturing and opinion guffing. blah. Oh, well, I think they should or these should people will do what the incentives like landlords, oh, landlords should do this or should do that landlords will do what the incentives show them. And as we've seen, right, when the incentives are there for landlords, there's more properties to rent and it keeps rent prices down. When the incentives are taken away for landlords, the incentives for landlords to provide good quality accommodation for tenants go away. Guess what happens?

[00:56:54]So yeah, incentives. You you you incentivize capital allocation where it's needed.

[00:57:01]That's that question.

[00:57:04]Um, right guys, got to wrap it up soon. I have an 11 o'clock. Um, some interesting questions I haven't got time to get into there. Any last minute mover questions?

[00:57:30]Uh, question. What do you think of homestaging companies? Hey, yeah, there's a market for them. They wouldn't exist otherwise. Um there are certain kinds of properties in certain kinds of markets where homestaging can make sense. Generally tends to be up on the higher value end. Um you know that's something you want you want the advice of a really good agent on that.

[00:57:56]Um very last quick question. First time buyer South Wales lots of offers over around even where uncensible. How would you suggest we approach offering at base or under figure listed whilst not upsetting the agent or the seller? Um, very good question. The only way to offset a disappointingly low offer is by showing that you are much more prepared to proceed than anyone else. Okay? And that is exactly why my offer email template exists.

[00:58:29]Okay?

[00:58:31]got in the last few seconds.

[00:58:34]I'll put the link to this in.

[00:58:37]Okay, so this offer email template which is free to use has a video explaining exactly how to use it goes through line by line. You can copy and paste it. It's in a Google doc. You just make your own copy of the Google doc. Um and that will and I'll just give you the link to that in the live chat. There's also a link in the description below I think. Um that's what you should do. is just basically make your offer goldplated.

[00:59:03]Okay, make your offer goldplated. We're much more likely to accept it. Um, and that's how you do it. And there's the link. It's too long. But just Google that, right? S email offer template for first-time buyers and you'll find it.

[00:59:16]Use that template. Follow the advice in there. It will massively improve your chances of getting your offer accepted.

[00:59:23]Right guys, um, that's it for today. Got to go. Have a great weekend. I'm just going to put on the on the page uh this URL. If you need a conveyance that you can completely rely on, a mortgage broker you can completely trust to give you advice in your best interest, property searchback provider, or a survey, go to mhwc.co.uk/allmy ducks with hyphens, all hyphen my hyphen ducks and order everything in one place.

[00:59:49]Thanks guys. Have a fantastic weekend.

[00:59:51]See you the next one. Oh.