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Exactly. There are too few properties. Whether these are council houses or in private ownership is only of relevence to the incremental people who would get council houses were more to be built.

There is an interesting article in the Economist (9 Sept - page 39) about this. Does anyone have an online subscription?

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=10 I looks about 3.8% exc bonus to me.

COAB, I think you are missing the point about council houses. If Thatcher had not sold of the council houses, they would be used for social rent along the priority lists which exist at present - single parents, older people, refugees. The council houses would be used by councils instead of paying rent to private landlords for the same people. If a young couple who had avoided becoming homeless (with or without children) wanted a council house the best they could hope for would be a long waiting list. In many parts of the country they would never be high enough on the priority list to get a house.

I believe she is a he

Bingley Bloke, I'm a long term bear and have never owned a house, but have only once had anyone say anything negative to me about my situation. Where do you meet people who rub your nose in the fact that you don't own a property - I never come across them? Hello CIUW!

Its a bit of a trek to the Sair, and theres no other reason to live in that part of town. Its completely the wrong side of Huddersfield for motorway connections so I can't imagine many people using it as a base to drive to Leeds. How long before a landlord rents out to DHSS? If I'm in the North in the next couple of weeks I'll drop by and pretend to be an investor just to hear the sales pitch!

Got to agree with you Scarecrow - I've visited Glasgow a few times and it is a real unsung gem of a place to visit. I've recommended a number of foreign guests (all very well travelled) to go to Glasgow when they had free time in the UK and all felt favourably about it. If I wasn't English it would be be preferred British city to live in.

Good luck.

I lived on Granfield Road until last Christmas. You are right about the noise. Also, and I'm in no position to be snobbish, many of the houses around are HMO's - some look like DHSS HMO's. Plenty of neighbours with taxis, which may prove useful. Doesn't seem much for £600k!

Absolute nonsense -the poster said they were training at work and studying outside of working hours - hardly an indication of laziness.

What you said was: Anywhere else in the world - you didn't limit this statement to a selection of wealthier countries.

Where exactly have you been??? If you are interested I'll provide you with a list of places with more deprivation, even worse education, higher crime rates and genuine peasant underclasses.

Can you give an example of one?

RB If you think Eastern European lapdancers are on substandard incomes you clearly frequent rather low class establishments.

When push comes to shove, the Conservatives are the party for the elderly. Each time Cameron thinks about trying to attract a broader range of voters the reaction from the consituencies and traditional voters is strong enough to scare him off. Hoping Cameron will do something to amend planning laws is unduly optimistic.

I think if people had pensions i was due to good work place provision, not a culture of pensions savings. A bigger difference between today and the 1990's is the level of consumer debt, and the exposure individuals have to a loss of income.

Does anyone else find Sharmanator's posts unusual? I'm trying to work out whether he really is a highly vocal Zionist, or someone trying to post extreme and inflamatory views with the intention of creating distrust of Jews. Any thoughts?

Lots of countries have fees for cable TB, and b*gger all if you dont subscribe to cable.

I heard this programme whilst in the car and was shocked by the boos. There is something important to add - when Ms Cooper expanded on the reasons homes were needed, the difficulties faced by FTB's without parental handouts, and the unfairness involved the audience reaction changed. Seems to show that there is a need to confront people with the debate.

Given the lag between sale dates and land registry updates, MJ Dazelely's figures seem to indicate that Q1 2006 sales were notably stronger than the equivalent quarter in 2005, and may prove to be in line with a five year average once finalised. My feeling is that houses are selling quickly at the moment.

I've just seen another story about IO mortgages, this time in the Observer. Interesting how such stories have come out in the last week. Is the country waking up, or are the banks sending warnings to their customers before changing their criteria?

If you believe that there is no demand, how would you explain most rental flats being occupied most of the time (and often by sharers) at high percentages of average take home pay? You could rent more cheaply in Paris or Amsterdam than Watford. There is a shortage of housing, including the much maligned two bed flat. There is no shortage of people wanting these flats but not able to afford the mortgage or rent - look at the number of thirty somethings living in shared houses.

Cant say I like St Albans on a weekend. I thought that most of the Chavs were from Luton? I've not noticed the home grown chavs except in the Crown at chucking out time.

I think that in a lot (most?) towns outside London, rentals are no higher and often less than the interest charge. Therefore IO doesn't win without capital gains.