starsky

Sibley, do you want people to be able to afford to buy their own home? If prices don't come down, how else will they do so?

Possibly the new financial year allowed an improvement in recruitment. Totally hypothetical though.

Precisely what I thought. There have inevitably been positive signs - end of the sheer drop, spring bounce, end of de-stocking & start of restocking - but to say it is over is nonsense. For months there have been efforts to talk the economy up, I understand this as a counterbalance to stem fear which leads things too far the other way. However, real people are going to make real decisions based on how they feel the economy is doing, and not on deep, thoughtful analysis. The debt has not gone away and we face rising inflation, interest rates and unemployment. Therefore, to announce normality is grossly irresponsible. Shame on any media that does this. Learn your damn lessons.

This kind of opposition is 5 years too late. I'd like to have known what the Tories really would have done had they been in power. Not much differently I'd say. Leverage was the way the global economy worked. Nor have they forwarded much in terms of conrete policy were they to become the next govt. L

Don't be silly.

For some reason some people think they have the right to do anything they want. Rights are confered upon us by society, and society has the right (i.e. force) to protect itself. If that comes to meaning limiting certain behaviours for the greater good then so be it. The deniers are just afraid of change. Is there a perfect solution? No, and so what? We have to act, not stand still and hope for the best.

Point us to any prediction that prices will fall month on month continually. There are plenty that predicted the spring bounce and/or short term rises. Having a contrary opinion is one thing (and welcome), but your post is just dishonest.

Hello? HPC does not mean absolute stand still does it? In all industries a destocking has been taking place, and now restocking is occuring, hence the moderate good economic news recently. The fundamentals have not altered much at all, and we realistically face higher unemployment and higher interest rates.

How many people do you think have enough cash to buy a house?You're talking about a small minority. Imagine how much cash it would take to buy all the house that were sold in a month during the peak years. Now if that cash isn't in bank accounts as we speak, and the banks aren't lending it, where is it going to come from?

People are entitled to their predictions and should be able to make them without anyone screaming at them. As long as vested interests are open, we can interpret how that may or may not influence their opinion. Everyone cites facts and opinions that suit their argument, and derides anything that doesn't. Personally, I still struggle to see where the money is going to come from to sustain much growth in the housing market.

Good grief. Wasn't it inevitable that the economy would stop freefalling at some point? That is all we are seeing. The economy of 2007 is long gone.

The BNP will never be anything more than a protest party with thugs at the centre.

Big deal. A smattering of councilors here and there out of some massive institutions. Statistically a small number of them are going to exhibit those behaviours. The BNP, however, is predicated on loathsome racist ideology. The crimes of its member are directly related to the what the party is about. Violence and hate are in its blood. Shame on anyone here who promotes these goons. It's easy as piss to attack politicians nowadays, but let's face it, they are all a lot of people deserve. Given the chance I bet half of this board would love to get away with some nice expense claims. The British people (the majority) gave up any interest in politics years ago, they prefer shopping. Now that is becoming more difficult they become angry. Your politicians reflect you.

Find me the openly racist members of the Lib Dems or the Labour parties. You're making nonsensical claims based on a frigging blog of all things.

The BNP are vile scum and the mainstream parties are nothing like them. As for Cameron, the guy is a slimeball, a fake and a chancer. He does not deserve to be in govt, he just exploits whatever he thinks the public gives a shit about on any particular day.

I've downloaded 30-40 Gb of music, and I'm not interested in buying most of it. I buy stuff I really like, but in the past I've too often spent 12-15 quid on an album that just wasn't worth it. You don't deserve a full time career just because you're a songwriter, but if I like what you do I'll support you. Same with films. We're subjected to enormous amounts of hype to encourage us to buy product that just isn't worth it. Totally agree with the response here to the supposed amount lost to the creative economy. I also agree with the point the economy isn't losing a penny anyway, because people spend anything they've got these days don't they? It's not like there is £12bn lying in the bank accounts of millions of teenagers throughout the country. Drop download prices if you want to make it more attractive.

There has been a lot of 'positive' economic news over the past couple of months. It's partly been a concerted effort by politicians, etc to talk up the economy. I can't say that I blame them totally, but at the end of the day, there just isn't the same amount of money flowing as there was a few years ago when the pretend stuff was all the rage. What we are experiencing in the housing market is a spring bounce (if you can call it that), combined with a bit of hype from the hopeful, the desperate, the misguided and a few who do have a good point to make.

Hopefully she'll get what she deserves for trying to cheat an eligible child out of their place.

We're only half way there anyway.

Thankfully his predictions have been spot on so far. I imagine we will see improvements in the economy at some point next year. But we won't have paid for this mess for a long time after. To some extent, there is a campaign to try and put a positive spin on things at the moment, which is understandable. Spin won't pay the bills though.

Bingo. The market had to contract. The plunge has declined, as expected, but the current green shoots are cash buyers, foreigners and those for whom buying a house has now become affordable. But affordability is still too out of sync with salaries, particularly within an environment of rising unemployment. Lending will not be what it was before, and whatever this govt is planning right now is almost irrelevant. Labour are out next year, and the Tories are preaching prudence. I never thought I'd find anything they say a relief, but Labour are just too irresponsible. There won't be another bubble like this for a long, long time. I would think we'll see a few moderate months, some rises here and there, and then a steady decline at a slower rate than we've seen over the past year. House prices are not down by 25% so far.

When my dad first moved to London he bought a house within 2 years. I couldn't afford that same house now on 3.5 multiple even if I was on 50k and had a 50k deposit. And he was only at the start of his career.

No, a single transaction does not represent 'the market', which is an aggregate.

There is no surprise that housing activity picks up after christmas. The only surprise is how this surprises people and leads to all kinds of statements of fact.

Piss off Barry