moonriver

Yes indeed, found this on twitter....care of Henry Pryor... Henry Pryor‏Verified account @HenryPryor "...Telegraph thinks it will be scrapped but The Times has another view. #Help2Buy May live to fight another day.." https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/housebuilders-bet-on-extension-of-controversial-help-to-buy-scheme-hcpm9ksbl "Leading housebuilders think the government will bow to pressure to extend the controversial Help to Buy scheme, which has boosted sales of new homes ."

I wonder what the reason is for the turnaround in this from the Mail? Could it be a) the possibility of a general election coming sooner rather than later? And the conservatives realise they won't be left with enough voters who can afford the high prices we have now? b) Going down the opposite track, are the PTB trying to backtrack on BTL taxes, by blaming this for why house prices are going down? Can anyone else here think of the reason for this complete change around? As discussed sentiment is a huge driver in keeping those house prices high.

That just says it all then.

Unbelievable! But no surprise at the length they will go to just to keep those house prices overvalues. Yet another method to make young people debt slaves, just to keep those house prices overvalued. I suspect many who have students loans will not be so keen to go for this one. eg see this comment below the article... Anyone know anything about the HFI? eg do they have any obvious self interest?

Nice clear headline from Sky Business news https://news.sky.com/story/housing-market-gloom-as-property-demand-falls-11327116?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

According to the report in the Time, average house prices would be £174k now, instead of £215k, if it wasn't for overseas buyers. It says the huge amount of overseas cash has driven up prices so much, it has meant homeownership is out of reach for a generation of buyers. Even the cheapest homes have been effected, they say, because of the "trickle down" effect. Care of Henry Pryor's twitter...like Henry, (whilst I think there are other reasons house prices here have risen so much), I too am surprised at the big influence foreign cash has had on the market as a whole. Henry Pryor‏ Crikey, @andrewellson will have double-checked all this I know but it still comes as a big huge surprise. I’m not even sure @HMLandRegistry actually records the necessary data. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/house-prices-pushed-up-20-by-influx-of-foreign-cash-mq7rgsqqn …

Agree, this is likely to have a big impact. Eg, its not just the shops in our towns that will have takings down as people stay at home, eg the largest theatre in Cardiff has had the big budget, good selling show, "Sunset Boulevard" on tour there this week. However both Thursdays and Fridays shows have had to be cancelled, and tomorrows probably as well. Coach operators as well as the theatre lose out on a lot of money on this.

And Daily Express fans...bet you can predict the front page spread on tomorrow's paper.... HOUSE PRICES SOAR £1000 A MONTH!! Getting desperate now to keep that sentiment positive for house price growth, aren't they?

Wow what a post! I am in South Wales and thought it was just round here this was going on. So many had been moving here from London/SE area, for cheaper property, especially on the coast. eg, up untill recently, little coastal bungalows with hardly any garden have been bought by local builders for around £150k, a quick mangolia paint over and extension (taking up most of the already small garden), and resold for £500k, usually to buyers from the SE! A few years ago we viewed some new build sea front flats (being nosy), they were around £250k then, the estate agent told me all of the buyers so far were from London. Around 16 months ago, our neighbours bought their large 4 bed house for just the 2 of them and they were from London. Cheap for them but at £275k, priced off the scale for local families! It is at last starting to slow down now though, those renovated homes are no longer being snatched up.

Makes you wonder how much these properties are going to carry on falling in value if the "funny money" dries up. Off twitter today... Henry Pryor‏Verified account @HenryPryor 4h4 hours agoT’was only a matter of time before ‘property' turned up in #ParadisePapers. Anti-money laundering oficers in certain estate agencies may be changing their pants this morning;-

Thanks for such a great post. And in today's FT, looks like, as you say, the wise ones have gone first. To read.... google FT article, "First ‘concrete signs’ of a buy-to-let slowdown". They say "Landlords are selling off properties and paying down debt , new date shows."

Interesting. Many thanks, that is the graph I was thinking of, and it clearly shows us we should be closely watching what the FED do. (as many here have been).

Anyone any idea historically, how closely we have followed the FED on this? I think I saw a graph on here once showing this?

Yes crashed for me completely around the time the interest rate hike was announced. Reminds me of those busy days back in 2007.

Could this be the same people who believe house prices only ever go up?