Jem

Very refreshing to have a reasonable and thoughtful response other than from the perpetually nasty and angry crowd who think that ordinary people should be treated worse than soiled disposable nappies. Things happen to people, often they have no control over circumstances and situations facing them. I want to live in a society who cares for people in need particularly where children are involved.

You are absolutely right, there are better options other than to criminalise people. Any one with experience of house swapping? It takes ages, a short term employment contract would be long gone before there is a chance to swap. Also note, that those who sublet need somewhere else to live, not all subletting is driven by the profit motive.

£50,000 fine sounds very harsh - which sounds great to me. Allow me to introduce a real world example, not all sub letters are crooks. A close friend of mine got a contractual job offer in Nottinghamshire, he is a council tenant in Central London. He has a contract for twelve months work and is very keen to take his family with him, do note that this is short term contractual work. Should he give up his council tenancy or sublet? I advised him to sublet and rent privately in Nottinghamshire, this is what he has done. All of a sudden he is potentially a criminal for doing his best for his family. I suspect that there would be thousands more like him. This is what happens when you have people in government with no idea what it takes for ordinary people to survive, keep a roof over their children's heads and a crust on the table. Please consider carefully what you would do in the same situation before condeming good people.

The more scarry scenario is; will these people ever be able to sell their houses at the prices at which they bought them given the rationing of mortgage finance? I think it is now impossible to accurately judge the value of a property, we cannot ever assume that mortgage lending will return to the levels which it has been during the past seven years. Experts seem to think that house prices need to fall by 40% before we just begin to get the fundamentals of the market in sync. Those who bought during the past seven years with a small deposit or little equity will pay an enormous price, in fact they will be ruined. More victims of our glorious bankers.

It's a pity that your achievements have not included the ability to have compassion on other people whose primary mistake was to have been aspirational that is to improve themselves and the living standards of their families. What they lacked was the ability to develop a strategy to maintain their newly acquired living standards and above all understand the financial implications of their actions and certainly the consequences. Whatever you've achieved someone along the way has helped you out, even if it is through the taxes of those you so despise. Your achievement of professional status has clearly not helped to disguise a flawed personality to say the least. Hope that life never brings suffering into your path (or maybe it should, you might be a better person for it) and that you continue to be the bright centre of your own universe.

I am surprised to find something which I wrote many months ago being used again, but I was right and I am not gloating about it. I've predicted the last two years of price increases correctly. Reading again what I must have written near the beginning of 2006 I see no reason to change my mind, sadly. I repeat, if you want to live in London and the South East you need to be able to compete for housing with global capital. Government realises this and are trying with its various schemes to stem the market, it won't. I wish I could be more hopeful to those of you who are desperate to get on the ladder, in the UK everything is for sale and now our housing stock built up over centuries are being sold to foreigners who have no social stake in our society. I have three children in their mid teens, within the next couple of years my wife and I will have to decide whether we became one of the BTL brigade. The alternative is that our children will never be alble to afford a property. We will need to start off mortgages for them and they will take it over hopefully post university etc. Why am I concerned about the welfare of others? I was once an economist for a major bank, I am now also a Church of England Vicar (I'm not joking). It cannot be right that younger people have to take on huge mortgages just to find a decent place to live and for their parents to have to deplete their pension funds to get them on the ladder. We are storing up a huge social cost for the future. Jem

Couldn't believe what I'd heard and seen, houses are being snapped up mostly by Africans and Eastern Europeans in Dagenham! Only place in London where you can get a three bed for around £200 000 and be in the City or Canary Wharf within 30 minutes.

All evidence that people behave rationally when it comes to debt. There is of course good debt and bad debt. Home improvements and investigating in improving your skills are good debt. Most people can service their debt if the worse happens equity in homes will always be an escape hatch.

The Russians are here already. Damn Cristina Odone Sunday October 15, 2006 The Observer Throughout the day, as I work, I check my inbox for my 'prime location property alert'. That means the property website has found a house or flat to match my request (three bedrooms and at least 1,000 sq ft for peanuts). As soon as I see it I am off, ringing the agency advertising the property, arranging a viewing. You have to move fast these days if you're going to beat the Russians....../ More evidence of the London and South East housing stock becoming a global commodity. We once had a closed market where the normal rules applied i.e if housing becomes too expensive for FTB's a correction could be expected in the short term. The really alarming comment in this report is that the Russians and others I might add are no longer focussed on central London only - they are looking at other areas in the capital and in the South East. They keep the sentiment of an ever increasing market going and with the insatiable Chinese and Indians will allow it to keep doing so into the foreseable future. This in turn allows parents to MEW with confidence and get their offspring onto the housing ladder. IR are still historically low and employment high despite locals losing jobs at the low end due to immigration. The Eastern Europeans are flooding our universities in ever greater numbers, they are right, realising that the key to success in the UK economy is a British qualification alongside their home achieved ones. This means that the pressure on the housing stock in good areas will become ever greater as income for these newcomers rise. I believed in a HPC to the end of 2004 - I still believe it will be conducive to a stable society for prices to decline, but its not going to happen. The largest fall we'v ever had was in the region of 33% -if this happens it will take us back to prices two years ago. Not much of a prospect to look forward to. GET ON THE LADDER NOW.

[ Published: 12/10/2006 - 10:19:34 AM The average UK house price has been bumped up to almost £170,000 as a result of a good economy and increased immigration, figures released today showed....../ Fionnuala Earley, group economist at Nationwide, said: "House prices increased in every region of the UK over the last twelve months, supported by robust economic conditions and high levels of immigration ." I have long argued on this site that it is not the "poor" Eastern Europeans affecting the housing market (they are great for the btl fraternity) but the very rich and company executives and their entourages. I repeat, London and the South East housing stock are now global commodities i.e not influenced by local conditions or a local market. The absence of FTB's will mean nothing and prices will continue to grow. Those whom I advised to get onto the ladder in 2004 taking note only of location, are now in a good position and it might have been the last time they could afford a home. Do note the article below: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2399627,00.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2399627,00.html' rel="external nofollow">

Reason is because most people in this position choose to go bankrupt at the same time and can therefore 'walk away'from all their debts. Anybody wonder why prices in London are rising and not falling given this very bad news? It is because the London housing market is now an international commodities market. There are thousands if not millions of highly skilled overseas professionals either arriving with their companies or recruited from abroad by British based companies. These are not classical immigrants, they come with large deposits or are cash buyers or their companies purchase properties. Yes, things are very different to the last crash since FTB's and others have been replaced by 'foreign' workers. The only option for FTB's is to get onto the ladder taking great care about location and the purchase will be safe from any future possible price declines.

I live around the conrner, its a great block, very popular with renting professionals. Very short walk to Parsons Green station and the Fulham Road. Very safe area particularly for women even though there is quite a lot of social housing in the area. You could easily get £2500 per month in rent for this property.

Would be very good to know why you hold such strong views against the area.

This is very helpful thanks. I have taken your advice and remained in Romford on a Saterday evening, not very attractive, but the positives seem to me to outway the negatives. Could you please let me know what areas to avoid and the areas which are most attractive in Romford. Many thanks again,

Pity you did not have the courage to deal with my arguments, Itherefore take it as a compliment that I am on to something. To try to answer your question, volumes are not required, the market is drven by sentiment. Do also consider taking your next holiday to China and see how a market works when it has potential consumers of over 1 billion people -millions of entreprenerial chinese are getting incredibly rich and need to invest their capital somewhere. London is a favourite destination for it, particularly its property market.