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Monday, May 12, 2008 
Seven reasons why property is not the automatic route to riches
Independent: Stephen King: As safe as houses? How harsh realities are dispelling the home market myths
A reaction rather than a prediction about the housing market. This could have been written by a HPC contributor years ago. That said, I like this bit: "First, even more so than in earlier episodes, the downturn was preceded by an extraordinary period of house price in-flation. Relative to people's incomes, house prices are now ludicrously high."
Sunday, May 11, 2008
17% M4 money supply growth for the last five years means onyl one thing ...
Times Online: Mervyn King to grimace and bear bad news
Inflation noun 1 econ a general increase in the level of prices accompanied by a fall in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in the amount of money in circulation and credit available. See also deflation, reflation, stagflation. 2 loosely the rate at which the general level of prices is rising. 3 the process of inflating or being inflated. inflationary adj relating to or involving inflation. I wonder which part of "increase in the amount of money in circulation" is not understood by Mr Duncan?
Lets get some perspective here
BBC: Warning over social care funding
Ministers are warning that England's social care system is heading towards a £6bn funding gap unless there is radical reform, the BBC has learned...............I know this is off topic and im sorry but this country gives out 50 Billion to bail out the banks and throws the vunerable to the dogs it makes me sick
Hah hah ha h aha ah ahhah £1m = €500k in ten years
Times: One in 10 British families soon to be worth £1m
"Nearly one in 10 British households will have millionaire status within a decade, an authoritative new study has predicted. Despite the global economic slowdown and falling property prices, the number of households worth £1m or more will increase from 1.5m to over 2.4m by 2017, the study says" Ah hahha hahh reason to be happy... but Friedman would call it inflation
It's not easy, but try to feel a teensy weensy bit sorry for estate agents
Guardian/Observer: It's not easy, but try to feel a teensy weensy bit sorry for estate agents
"Did anyone get angry when the prices of their houses were being ridiculously overinflated? Did I, who staunchly polices the airbrushing of celebrity thighs on the pages of glossy magazines, complain when my fusty two-bed dump was described as a 'delightfully bijou maisonette' and photographed from flattering angles? No I didn't. None of us did. We all jumped feet first into the nest of vipers and now, diddums, we've been bitten." This made me smile. Hope it's not a re-post - I've been out in the sun all day so may have missed it.
Mortgage Possession Actions getting to 1991 levels
The Market Oracle: UK Housing Market Surge In Mortgage Repossession Orders
From 2000 to 2006 the property market could be viewed as benign, prices went up (and up) whilst affordability from a debt servicing point of view increased. This coupled with loose lending standards (125% mortgages, mortgage limits set at multiples of 5 or 6 times gross earnings) encouraged a buying spree. However, when you view the figures of mortgage possession actions in County Courts, you can see the clear "suckers rally" that has now turned sour:
Echoes of the UK 20/30-somethings over the channel
Guardian: After the boomers, meet the children dubbed 'baby losers'
Across Spain, France and Italy, young middle-class professionals with good degrees and diplomas are facing a lifetime on low salaries with unrewarding jobs, forever poorer than their parents.
Disaster as fears of decade wide slump grow
Independent On Sunday: disaster as fears of decade wide slump grow
looks like this isn't gonna be a correction over a few years...more like a japan squeeze which could go on for 10+ years in 2005 halifax waned prices may not rise again until 2016...then joined in the 'party'
Fait accompli !!
The Telegraph: Bank of England warns of two years of stagflation
"Mervyn King, the Bank's Governor, is poised to unveil new forecasts showing that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will rise above 3 per cent over the next six months, forcing him to write a letter of explanation to the Chancellor." "They come amid warnings that Britain now faces a US-style housing crash, with plummeting prices and rising repossessions." But wait for it!! "Despite the higher rate of inflation, the Bank is likely to indicate its readiness to cut borrowing costs again at least once - perhaps twice - in the coming months." "The Governor would insist that the increase had not come as a surprise." Oh thats OK then.
Depressing tales of irresponsible lending
Observer: 'I welcome the crunch: it's shut off the easy loans that destroy lives'
"Counsellors say that tighter credit conditions are, at last, arresting the debt spiral that sucks in vulnerable borrowers." "Antcliffe, who has worked for Citizens Advice since 1994, says: 'The banks have acted as a secondary welfare state. I'm not sure how people are going to adjust to living on their income again."
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