Friday, Apr 13, 2007
Are house prices too high?
BBC: Are house prices too high?
Are you a key worker or a first-time buyer trying to get on the property ladder? What needs to be done to help you? If you are a home owner, are you worried about interest rate rises or a market crash?
Posted by david21 @ 11:43 AM (178 views) Add Comment
12 Comments
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1. Zed4 said...
Is anyone like me on these forums and hate the term 'property ladder',
its as if we all aspire to buy a 1 room flat in a slum and aspire to the detached mock tudor 2.4 children 'dream'.
What is wrong with getting a small house and staying there for the rest of ones life. I am career minded and dont want to be obsessed with the propery ladder, I want to spend more time pushing my career.
Its all so English, chill out. Also, sure I hope a crash comes soon so lets keep talking it up,
after all its all an illusion, in a 100 years it probably wont matter to all of us.
Property doesnt quite yet lead to immortality despite what the TV shows lead you to beleive, sorry to break the news people!
2. harold said...
Who says HPI is a good thing when nurses can afford to buy a place (and I mean place, not house) in only 1% of the towns in the UK? Utter, utter short-term stupidity from the Government and BoE for manufacturing this situation in the first place. Of course, the government knows what the answer is: HPC - and when Labour are ready to leave office (or when Brown is about to take over) they will pull the rug from under everyone’s feet and there'll be an almighty crash - which, of course, will be described as a "blip" and blamed on global, i.e., "foreign", economic problems. Pathetic really.
3. tyrellcorporation said...
'KEY WORKER' Arrrrghhhhhh!!! I hate that BBC/Nu Labour phrase.
What about the 'key workers' (poor call-centre saps, etc) actually making money for the country that generate tax revenue to pay for civil servants?!? As usual basic economic truths are turned on their heads when looked at through red tinted glasses.
Unfortunately huge swathes of the population are totally ignored by this government and the media. The Firemen, Police and Teachers all have state funded pension pots the average Joe can only dream of. My friend is a mid-level exec in the MOD and he's worked out his pension pot when nearing retirement will be worth a couple of million! Mine is currently standing at £20,000 and will give me about £400 a year when I retire. I'd better buy a fricken house then eh!!!
All these perks are conveniently forgotten by civil servants. IMHO there is very little incentive to be outside the public sector at all!
4. C'mon Correction said...
"Are house prices too high"? Umm, let me think - average family income £42k - average house price £200k, UK public in £1.4 trillion of debt..... YES !!
5. harold said...
TC, Every time this issue crops up you bang on about key-workers - it's just a name. However, think of a moment what would happen if these workers didn't exist (perhaps because someone privatised them, deem them not to be profitable and sacked them). Education - it wouldn't happen. Health - it would happen (apart for the very rich). Crime - an explosion. Fires - let it burn. Now lets contrast this clearly non-essential labour force with the crucial jobs that call-centre staff do...
6. monty said...
harold
I doubt that TC is denying the "key workers" their right to exist, merely questioning, as I have, the fuss and performance when they're unable to purchase a house in the areas in which they work. As TC rightly pointed out, this is often compensated for elsewhere.
7. harold said...
Monty, sure, but what would you like to call them: "Poorly paid but essential public-sector employees with a whacking great pay-off at the end of 30 years" - bit of a mouthful. As for being able to buy - what incentive is there to become a nurse, for example, if you have to live in a cardboard box? Do we want/need nurses? If we do, then we have either to remunerate them properly NOW (they have just been given a pay rise below inflation) or pursue economic policies that don't disenfranchise them, i.e., don't manufacture HPI for short-term political gain.
8. monty said...
harold,
I prefer calling them nurses, teachers and firemen. You're right though, if you have too few, increase the pay and encourage more into the profession. When a mining company struggles to find qualified engineers to drill in the middle of the Arctic tundra they increase the incentives, pay packages, holidays etc. Health trusts and local authorities can do the same.
9. royston said...
Are house prices too high?
Is the pope a catholic?
Does a bear sh!t in the woods?
10. tyrellcorporation said...
Harold. I go on about it because it annoys me - singling out this group, WHY?. It's because it's politically correct to do so. It's not simply 'a name' as you try to point out. It's a recognition by the media and the political classes that these people are in some way the only ones worth being concerned about. Can you tell me why the guy in the call-centre earning £6 an hour doesn't get a mention?
You're other comments are ridiculous and not worth my time...
Do you think the NHS spends your money efficiently? Nope, nor do I!
11. harold said...
TC, you go on about it because your record is cracked.
12. Scott said...
Welcome to the 21st century UK. Democracy is gone, autocracy is back. You have either got or you have not got. No insult implied as I myself am the latter. It is just the way it is folks.