Why do people always talk about rising and falling "house prices" ?

I think houses always become worth less over time - only the land houses are build on is rare and therefore a "house" costs more money - but not because of the house, only because of the land.

The older your car or your trousers get, the less they are worth. I don't think houses make an exception (in theory) - the older the crappier (excluding really old houses with a history).

What do you think ?

The roof doesn't get rainproover, the pipes won't be less likely to get blocked, the windows won't isolate better, the doors won't shut better - the older a house gets. So in theory house prices would be falling all the time - if building land was not such a big problem.

I agree

(and particularly this is quite 'spooky' for me cos I was working my way up through the threads, and posted a similar comment in the 'strange questions...' thread, then saw this topic after )

I think there's always been a crazy debate over house prices.
Pretty dumb too considering that the relative cost of houses stays the same, whatever your house is worth.
The interest rates are more important than the house prices when it comes to property.

Interest rates matter, because it only makes/made sense to by a house if it is cheaper then renting a house. Once you start loosing money by buying a house
, it makes no sense to buy it.

The only reason why house prices went up is that interest rates where so low that lots of people made lots of money buy getting a mortgage on a house and renting it out - and the rents paid for the mortgage. As interests rates and house prices go up, it is not possible anymore and you are better off selling the house any putting the money on a savings account.

It is possible to lose money by buying over renting. For example, when properties go into negative equity (which happens every once in a while). People have £120,000 mortgages on houses that are suddenly worth £80,000 and so on.

What I meant by relative house prices is, the idea that you buy a house. It's kind of irrelevant that you have made capital gains on the house because if you want to move to a bigger house, that place has gone up in value relatively too. Capital gains are of value if you are trading houses and want to cash in a property of course!

I fear going into the whole buy-to-let arena, but it does seem like a very straightforward way of achieving financial freedom. Obviously, it's not easy or everyone would be doing it. Property is big business. I went to a property seminar in London during the summer. It's amazing the risks some people will take in the whole property market. Buying off-plan. Financing property purchases through credit cards. Hiring property gurus and sourcers for £2k a day. I'm too chicken to do any of that stuff. I guess I'll never have the lambo!