Tuesday, Mar 06, 2007

IMF criticises Brown, says HPC is possible

This is money: Property could slump warns IMF

The Washington-based International Monetary Foundation has warned that house prices in the UK are overvalued, and a crash is possible. They also criticised Gordon Brown's policy of gradually increasing the tax burden, which could jeopardise the future of the UK economy.

Posted by jellycaster @ 08:33 AM (145 views) Add Comment

12 Comments

1. daft boy said...

Its nice to see a post thats actually relevent to HPC for a change. There are far too many posts that are not which does stifle meaningful debate on HPC. IMO this is the main post for today and hopefully will attract meaningful comments.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 09:23AM Report Comment
 

2. paul said...

"and hopefully will attract meaningful comments."

If you're not happy with the relevance of comments, please comment yourself more. The IMF said the outlook for the UK economy is wonderful - mind you they said the same for the US this time last year.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 09:31AM Report Comment
 

3. daft boy said...

Exactly Paul. This article outlines the very model we are seeking. Lower house prices with a stable economy. I do realise that little rays of sunshine can be depressing for many on this site. The IMF never said that the UK economy was wonderful they said it was impressive .

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 09:49AM Report Comment
 

4. george monsoon said...

I found this comment particularly interesting..

"With only two weeks before his final Budget, the Chancellor was told to rein in extravagant public spending rather than trying to close the black hole in the public finances with further tax rises."

I'm not sure how this will manifest in Brown's budget, but it looks like there are interesting times ahead. Bottom line, no more mr nice guy, its payback time..!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 09:57AM Report Comment
 

5. daft boy said...

I agree george monsoon. Brown has little room for further tax rises , direct or indirect. The cow has been milked for the moment. Lower public spending means higher unemployment which will help to apply the brakes on the housing market. Poor old Brown was hoping to make a clean exit through the door of no.11. I think he may have been stitched up by Blair.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 10:33AM Report Comment
 

6. Jim Tallis said...

How about lower public sending means below inflation public sector pays rises ,which means strikes, which means end of economic downturn which means = HOUSE PRICE CRASH!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 11:52AM Report Comment
 

7. bidin'matime said...

"I think he may have been stitched up by Blair."

Teamwork, dear boy, teamwork - Brown and Bliar make a good double act at screwing things up...

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 01:23PM Report Comment
 

8. Hp Its Gotta Crash? said...

Some one once posted a comment about PR and until people realise this is all stupid then nothing will happen. My friend told me only the other day that she has now upped her studio to a one-bed for renting out. She earns 23k a year and has made 40k equity so the bank have allowed her a 140k buy to let (interestingly though she previously didn't tell the tax man she was renting like a lot of BTL folk so at least shes doing it properly). She seemed indifferent when I said interest rates were on the way up...

My other friend has no pension and has told me her pension is her house. Until this perception changes by a hefty interest rate rise I really can't see how the crash is coming soon....

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 01:32PM Report Comment
 

9. Sam said...

how about not spending on flashy IT systems and solutions looking for problems.

oh and anounce a cap on olympics spending. -- before it hits the 15 billion mark.

brown and blair have spent the best part of 10 years competing against each other instead of trying to sort out problems with this country.

truth is that David Cameron isn't going to change much, he was around to cause the last HPC in the 80s/90s.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 02:46PM Report Comment
 

10. paul said...

daft boy, criticism is idle, action is virtuous.

The housing bull articles are also welcome here - we all need to be vigilant against only seeing one side, and dismissing the other side out of hand. It is difficult though - there's an awful lot of money tied up in the housing market and its continuing prosperity and anyone who says otherwise is going very much against the grain. This is also why many many things in the economy could be relevant to housing and are worth commenting on.

I welcome jellycaster's input for example, even though much of it is bullish. Balance is what a site like this needs. Other contributors however waltz in, troll around without substantiation and leave - not so contructive IMHO.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 03:28PM Report Comment
 

11. maddison said...

What do you think the affect on the housing market would be if the David Cameron's crew got in?

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 04:11PM Report Comment
 

12. daft boy said...

Paul, I could not agree more. Balance is what a site like this really needs.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 05:57PM Report Comment
 

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