LiveinHope

You are unlikely to ever be offered anything that would be more to your advantage that to their's That's my outlook.

I also don't think it was a verbal slip. He is too focused and he is thinking ahead before he speaks, as far as I can tell. When I heard it I thought 'Career defining' as in 'your futures, and then also 'the country's future' I am sure he wasn't thinking about his career, the election has no real impact upon his career as he will have a career irrespective of power.

Q1. If you were given you £100k in real notes, would you spend it on a house right now ? Q2. Would you give someone £100k in real notes to spend upon a house right now ? It depends upon the direction you think house prices are heading. That is my hard headed answer that doesn't take any account of other practicalities Right now, I have no money in property and I feel much more comfortable having money which can i) buy stuff even if that is rent, and ii) may hold it's value with respect to house prices, and so I wouldn't convert money into a house at the moment. I have been offered help by parents and I have turned it down on every occasion. Not least because my parents may need the money themselves for care fees one day etc

I have no 'feel' or understanding of how much pressure immigrants place on the housing stock, is it pro-rata with UK citizens for instance ? Although I work in one of Labour's dispersal cities (an economically poor city that was ill-equipped for the task), I am insulated relatively from the effect due to the distance I place between myself and 'society'. Of course, immigration has other effects upon the economy that work in conjunction with high houseprices to make the UK unaffordable for many UK citizens. Personally, I don't think the government has any long-term influence over prices now they have reached such dizzy heights. I think and hope that the only way is down. All the current Government have done is insert a pause in the inevitable. I have a feeling that if housing goes down, so will the economy for many people. Will I like the short-term consequences of what I wish for ?

I often think the chimpanzees living free in the fresh air and eating fresh fruit must be shrieking with laughter at their highly evolved descendents

I'm just glad I don't waste any money on a Sky subscription, but instead save it for important things like renting somewhere to live. Anyway, what is it with owning a house when you're only on Earth for a short time ?

Houses will cease to be bought unless prices fall in my opinion. The nation of house buyers is indebted to the hilt, people can't work any harder to service bigger mortgages, and even currently, new entrants can only buy with help. The only other alternative is house price stagnation. Either way, the BTL brigade will find that their houses don't turn out to be the investment of their dreams as the yield won't turn a profit but a loss, most likely. The Conservatives have just propped the market up and the Labour proposals, rent cap (I'm a long-term renter) and £300k stamp duty threshold, annoy me as they will have obvious, but seemingly to Labour, unintended consequences. IMO the biggest threat to house prices after an interest rate hike (as noted by Bruce Banner above) is when new entrants simply don't want to buy a house because i) home ownership is long forgotten in the psyche as a model of housing, ii) they have found better things to do with their limited money. When homeowners or BTLers can't sell their houses neither for love nor money, prices will tumble. Personally, I haven't any time for either Labour or the Conservative housing policies (what is the Lib Dems?). However, I think the economy places any Government firmly between a rock and a hard place.

Limited mathematical ability, a culture that sees borrowing as the norm, and belief that houses really are money trees1. Lambs to the slaughter. I quite enjoy paying cash at checkouts. Letting the cashier ring up £4.58 and enter my £5.00 note as payment, and then I offer 8p. I don't do it to be mean or take the mickey, it's more of a personal UK maths ability survey. 1 I'll add 'greed' too

In my area I think older owners know house prices are static or falling a bit. My HPI rampant work colleagues don't talk HPI any more, but instead talk falls. Selling for more than you paid is hardwired however, as is selling for more that what you think it was worth last year, even if that is still double what you paid 10 years ago. Selling a house for less than it was worth yesterday, even if what you want to buy will be less, is even outside of their sphere of economic literacy. While owners hold on, more and more of the younger generation denied 'owning' will lead alternative lifestyles and come to realise over time that owning a home and being tied to it is, at best i) either a hindrance or not the ultimate goal in life or, ii) a money pit at worse. When you have to tempt buyers who have little money, the prices will collapse.

It's 'houseism' - and it's evil.

Unfortunately, this is very true. However, while experiencing it 'full-on', the prejudice is no more than ignorance or lack of comprehension, and perhaps even envy of the freedom renting and savings bring. So I rephrase it as:

How many years will £220k rent you (interest + drawdown). And in the meantime you also have the cash to spend. You can work occasionally to add a bit, or take a break to do whatever. You can make a 2-finger salute to any cr4p boss (worth it's weight in gold). Once the £220k is in bricks you have to work.

With 220K I'd start living. And you don't need to own a house to do that.

That move was a disaster in the making. My Morrisons became a posher Waitrose overnight. 20 varieties of mushrooms, whole parma hams, in an area that bought button mushrooms and gammon steaks. It was fantastic produce but most got wasted the customers just didn't know what to do with it and why i marvellled at it and licked my lips, I prefer to pick mushrooms from the fields and woods rather than pay for them. The misters for the veg remain as a symbol of folly. It was sad to see it happen Having said that, I really like Morrisons, I like their investment in grass roots, farms, abattoirs, fish etc and they stock good ingredients as well as all the usual trash that some people also seem to want. My butcher's counter will give you what you want and trim well.

I'm just surprised at the number of fools that pumped the share price up 200% and are still holding them.

Can your tenet be summarised as 'speculate to accumulate' Serious question. (I may be naive).

I can see how they capture the public sector market through their feel-good carbon capture and storage claims. However, their impact on climate change is irrelevant as the carbon will be back in the atmosphere in the blink of an eye, metaphorically. (and I'm signed up to MMGW). Build with straw by all means, but the carbon storage argument is erroneous in any meaningful way.

I know what you mean, but they are only real to those who believe they are real. Unfortunately the strength of their beliefs has wrecked the economy.

I thought I would get picked up on that - (I am still basing my views upon peak 2007 prices). To a large extent my views are influenced by my local area that has shown fairly static prices and is in a bubble almost equivalent to London. I'll probably get pulled up on the following too, as it's totally unscientific, Looking at the Nationwide graph, the previous peaks to troughs appear to be ~ £86-71k (17%), £94-79k (16%) and £139-£90k (36%) and eyeballing I have always thought ~ 50% from Q4 2007, and for this to occur around 2016-2018. My views seem to have been kicked somewhat into the long grass at the moment, although the props could fall away very soon after May. I am firmly of the view that there is 'no money' in people's pockets, or the economy. Heck, we know there isn't, just look at the debt and the defecit. I am also in the Paul Hodges unwinding camp, which was posted on HPC before. At my level: Many seem to be only able to live through state help or by borrowing Prices of goods from private companies are falling. Prices of services from the public sector are rising. Colleagues are being made redundant to preserve others' salary levels. SVRs on mortgages are rising Interest to savers is falling (the last two are banks recapitalising to allow a fall IMO, at the expense of those who benefited from the rise and who the forthcoming fall will affect) More and more ways are being found to put some spending money into people's pockets at the expense of the future- e.g. pension reform. As a result, that tells me the pips are squeaking. I see the economy as unaffordable with expected lifestyles facilitated almost totally by borrowing against future HPI. I also think it means that about 50% of my savings were built from an economy fuelled by HPI, and so they are as imaginary as the price of a house. Can I preserve my savings while prices fall ? And is it even right for me to expect to do so if I want a better country to live in. That's just my viewpoint explained, briefly. I am in the University sector. The attached is from my University's most recent accounts. The University is selling itself abroad at the moment, hard.

My own situation. Renting has enabled me to build savings that I wouldn't have otherwise. Now, I can't put my money into what I perceive to be a property overvalued by at least a 100% when that money could rent an equivalent property for many years, and cover usual living costs at the same time, albeit modestly. It's the relaxation of knowing I can afford my way should paid work disappear that is the benefit I can't sacrifice. On the other positive side it also enables me to do more innovative work as I can take R&D risks that could affect my earnings if they don't pay off. Of course, I may regret my position if the value of my savings is wiped out before house prices crash.

In light of this thread, THIS appeared in my twitter feed and just made me laugh

Whatever it is, it is money that people don't need. If an individual can't save this loan sum by staying at home for a few months longer, how the heck are they to afford the rent. Oh, there is a loan for that too All I keep imagining are those variety hall, plate spinning acts.

I even hate them for making me hate the character I am, which is a character that finds it difficult to not let this stuff vex me

It's astonishing, It's still getting a mention this morning. I wonder if the company's announcement was timed speculatively to coincide with the pension changes ?

I never knew there was rented property ladder too.... I loathe the lib/lab/con