Saturday, Apr 19, 2008

Another bash at HPC.co.uk

Telegraph: Apocalypse now? I don't think so

t seems there is quite a cabal of people in his court. They congregate online at a website called housepricecrash.co.uk, where they exchange views on why it is better to rent than to buy, and place bets on how long it will take before prices slide back to mid-1990s levels.
I wouldn't recommend the site to anyone looking for a balanced take on the market: many of its users seem to have a positive vendetta against homeowners.

Posted by little professor @ 04:24 PM (1262 views) Add Comment

24 Comments

1. renting2 said...

Isn't this from 2006?

Saturday, April 19, 2008 04:28PM Report Comment
 

2. little professor said...

Oh yeah. Ooops!

Saturday, April 19, 2008 04:48PM Report Comment
 

3. malct said...

having read the article:-

LP never mind oops actually it's a great post, we should all read it and reflect

and just what is this pratt Edmund Conway, the Daily Telegraph's Economics Editor doing now?

What an incredibly open piece of propaganda B^llsh!t! wonder how much he got paid for that?

yours sincerley a devoted HPC website homeowner - sill boy Edmund

Saturday, April 19, 2008 04:57PM Report Comment
 

4. malct said...

krusty on 40/2039

Saturday, April 19, 2008 04:59PM Report Comment
 

5. malct said...

who stole my pension on

18/1385

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:01PM Report Comment
 

6. plato said...

I wasn't here then, so Ipost my opinion now : Edmund Conway

There is only one thing more dangerous than an Idiot >>> An Educated Idiot.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:07PM Report Comment
 

7. whiteknight said...

far better if it had corrected then ....

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:08PM Report Comment
 

8. handle_it said...

Sorry if someone has suggested this before but is it possible to mirror these VI articles so that they don't benifit from any traffic ?

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:14PM Report Comment
 

9. malct said...

meaning what handle it? I don't understand

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:23PM Report Comment
 

10. Nickolarge said...

He doesn't know the difference between a forum and a thread.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:24PM Report Comment
 

11. John Q said...

thanks Mr. Pratt, that's the best advertising housepricecrash.co.uk could have dreamt of.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:39PM Report Comment
 

12. David Stubbins said...

Hi.
I have no axe to grind either way and can give a totally unbiased opinion having read your site for many years. This article is a correct analyse of your web site. Sorry, but sometimes the truth hurts. It is you who is another planet with your outrageous, mostly ridiculous, pathetic and may I say jealous viewpoints.
Dave

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:45PM Report Comment
 

13. justwatching said...

I read a few of his more recent articles online and he's not that bad, some well balanced articles.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 05:53PM Report Comment
 

14. An Bearin Bui said...

I was very confused by his reference to "a sudden spurt forward in the market in the early part of this year" until I noticed that the article dated from 2006!

For a minute there I thought that the vested interests had somehow managed to hypnotise themselves into thinking that the 2.5% drop in March was a "spurt forward", a kind of housing market Newspeak where war is peace, slavery is freedom and - now - down is up...

Saturday, April 19, 2008 06:07PM Report Comment
 

15. justwatching said...

Dave, I come here for comfort. I sold in Aug 2006 because I was skint, well,massively in debt. I was lucky enough to get a job with accomodation. I have been riduculed since selling up,until about 3/4 weeks ago. Now these same people accept that things are about to go t*ts up.
Anyway, less about me, where would you suggest one should go for a balanced opinion?
Certainly any media outlet (the BEEB especially) has been shockingly blinkered until very recently. Houses are very expensive. Many poor dupes have watched pwoperty porn and now have mortgages of 6, 7, 8 X their salaries. Had they visited here they may not have such ridiculous debt now, all on an interest only mortgage, because pwices only ever go up.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 06:12PM Report Comment
 

16. Rental John said...

Why oh why do they keep referring to HPC....its a blog - get over it! What we write here will have no effect on the current situation or outcome....unless of course we are all part of some Dr Evil's empire selling dodgy mortgages to poor suckers in the states - to hold the world to ransom!

I do not see any 9/11 conspiracy blogs getting hammered whenever there is a question on the war on terror.

I'm called Rental John cause I rent my current 'home', I would like to buy back in to the housing market one day....but not while houses are over priced at the peak of a market.....that would be mad - Mortgaged Assured Destruction....

Saturday, April 19, 2008 06:13PM Report Comment
 

17. Rental John said...

Well said 'justwatching'......I am in a similar situation.....I sold up in late 2005, and fell lucky with a small property I rent off the national trust at reasonable rent. I mainly need to release funds to help support two kids through Uni (at the same time, with slight overlap - bad planning I know, but who knew they would both grow up clever).

When I sold up (what was my 3rd home), my family in particular treated me like a mental leper.....renting is lost money, bricks and mortar is safe as houses - all the usual cr@p......still all my debts are paid off, and I still have cash saved in case I wish to buy back in when things get sensible....one day!

I do not come here for comfort either.....the news blogs are a great source of info.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 06:22PM Report Comment
 

18. confused76 said...

"Most economists think it will have to lift rates to 4.75 per cent before the end of the year"

Edmund is clearly still drunk after his visit to the pub

If he is reading this blog, I warn him not to put forward interest rate predictions
People tend to believe what they read in these rugs and, in the past, went for nothing longer than 2 year fixes because the press (the David Smiths b***sh*tt*rs) predicted lower IRs for ever and ever

Saturday, April 19, 2008 06:42PM Report Comment
 

19. confused76 said...

AH HAHAH HAHAH AHHA

this is from 2006!

Now congratulations to everybody on this site. Were we right or was he?

4.75% interest rates? AAH HAH AHHAH HAHAHH looks more 7% mortgage rates!

I@iotic pundits like Edmund! they think they know. They know less than nothing!
They are pub conversation material ... at best!

Saturday, April 19, 2008 06:46PM Report Comment
 

20. Dancer7 said...

I think that this Daily Telegraph article does not even remotely cover the seriousness of the current situation. However I do agree with the author that the HPC forum does not offer a balanced view...many of the comments are too hysterical and badly presented. I very rarely look at the forum now, but I do log on regularly to the news blog to pick up on the various news items.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 07:17PM Report Comment
 

21. layers said...

LP - great post.
"To which the answer is, of course, no. Nobody - not me, not economists, not even Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England - knows what will happen to house prices." - Yet most on this site managed to?!
What on Earth does that say about their judgement and knowledge then? Or maybe it says they knew all along what they were doing - seems much more likely doesn't it!? Just puppets.

@David Stubbins - well thank you for your opinion.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 07:37PM Report Comment
 

22. plato said...

Must put a quick response to David Stubbins @12:

If you have no axe to grind, why are you using such fighting language?

For your information: I am a home owner and have had been for many years, buying and selling my homes - One home at a time that is -- to live in. My vested interest is in honesty. As simple as that. Try it yourself and be as you imply --- help those young and less well off people with honourable advice not to get into a life of debt.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 08:32PM Report Comment
 

23. denzil said...

Actually, I'm pretty certain Conway has changed his view regarding HPC. Whatever anyone says about this site (HPC), I think this blog is fantastic although I do not visit the forum as there is frequently a case of cabin fever in there. The thing is, this blog was discussing sub-prime fallout and the credit crunch months if not a year before it even appeared on the radar of the mainstream press.

One point that Conway makes is a real lack of compassion for the homeowner. I owned property during the last crash and I witnessed first-hand the impact on families losing their homes. It is not nice and certainly not anything to gloat over.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 08:59PM Report Comment
 

24. David said...

A quick reply to plato.
Isn't renting a life of debt with nothing to show at the end?
Dave.

Saturday, April 19, 2008 09:08PM Report Comment
 

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