Winky

No prob Shipbuilder. This is a good time to buy, The economic situation is changing as we speak with sterlings devaluation and lower interest rates and a global revaluation of currencies taking place, Those countries that will revalue their currency first will be the first out of this slump. Oh you are going to love this ! But this is TRUE in my area, Bargains were well below RV and at builders cost were sold to generate cashflow for builders in addition second hand houses or whatever you want to call them that builders used perhaps as securitisation for business loans etc were sold at cheap money to generate cash flow. With Interest rates at 5% for example a builder Interest Only would have been paying about £85k per quarter on a 6 million pound loan that payment per quarter has reduced by 5 you could say to closer to £16k per quarter leading to less distressed sellers. NI has a big advantage over UK mainland and ROI at moment with sterlings demise our goods and products are cheaper to the ROI which will help support some areas around the border areas. If I was a buyer now! I would be actively looking for the right house bearing in mind not everyone will lower their prices and to seize an opportunity when it presents itself.

Well worth a read? Your issue is going to be getting a property as not everyone will drop their prices. http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Homeowner...erty.4959271.jp Several estate agents across the Province agreed with Mr Pooler's assessment of buyers' psychological difficulty in accepting lower values.

Unfortunately JoeDavola I am not a property finder and am not looking a job doing so? This is against forum rules looking for a service or business! tut tut Just spend a little time on it yourself and you will find them. I m not here to help you buy a house if people want to do that best to go and look themselves.

Taken from your article................................. The Bank of England is expected by many experts to cut interest rates from an all-time low of 1.5 per cent to an even lower rate of 1 per cent. There are some tentative signs that lenders are starting to cut their mortgage rates, with Woolwich last week offering a two-year fixed rate deal of 2.29 per cent. Though the loan came with many catches, experts said. According to CEBR, however, the housing market could start to warm up if the Government's second banking bail-out package, announced in January, does boost lending. Under its "upside scenario", it predicts house prices will steady out at £164,00 this year, before recovering slightly in 2010. But even under this scenario, it will take until 2013 for prices to have fully returned their peak in 2007. "The glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for the beleaguered housing market is that prices and interest rates are now at levels whereby any improvement in lending is likely to lead to substantially increased activity and at the very least a bottoming out in house prices," said Mr Williamson. Belfast Boy how can you say you are in a very unbiased froum in a previous therad today, when you only abstract the pessimism.. Did you forget this bit above.. from the same article you extracted A highly neutral view is better than a one sided view....

Ricky I totally see where you are coming from and empathise with you.... How about the generation above you who bought overpriced houses because at the time it was the norm. just food for thought !!! this is the situation the government is faced with? Who do they screw most? They are trying very hard to ensure that both sides get on ok.... They will enable FTB's to buy whilst inflating the properties back to 07 levels. This is what you have to realise you folks now have a perfect situation when you buy at todays discounted prices knowing that they will return to 07 levels. Dependent on your area there are good houses available at good prices! depends where u are from though as some areas are slower to react than others. Those who benefited from HPI are in order of the gains at the time 1) Banks - Main Cause 2) Governments (Lot of money generated from tax revenue and stamp duty) 3) Developers and Investors who got out sitting in a cash position. I understand not as many exist as you might imagine however they do exist. Losers EVERYONE ELSE Homeowners Past and Present Shop Keepers Workers (Job security etc) Be under no illusion FTB's are not in a bad situation now when you start to look around at others losing their jobs through no fault of their own and losing their homes or building up even bigger debts as they cant pay their mortgage as they have no money coming in. Thats my point You are right to be OPTIMISTIC as a lot of people are worse of than you. If you keep waiting and waiting however dont be surprised to see a sharp upturn once all the bad news is out, 2-3 months ago somone would have said you were mad buying a house in Oct and Nov 08 even though it was well below RV now those houses dont exist and people are waiting till prices go up to sell. Just look at todays Newsletter. Put yourself in a buyers position and picture what you would do?

I believe it is due to the devaluation of the Pound against the Euro and the ability rfor southeners along the border and below to come across North to do their shopping etc and buy components etc which boosts retail, engineering and manufacturing etc etc No where else in the UK has a road between Euro Land and Sterling, if you exclude the Euro tunnel and SE England who will experience a similar spurn. Just like London Property Prices are starting to look cheap for foreign cash rich investors..... Its all to do the revaluation of currencies which was mentioned on this site away back in October 08.

Thank you pemcl I am not saying the posters are sinister, but i just believe it is important to remember that some people will always talk the market down they are called pessimists and those that talk it up opptimists and then those who state what is happening on the ground "realists". I feel alot of people on this site are too pessimistic and not optimistic to realise that prices in many parts have dropped in parts 50% and that it is possibly a good time to buy. No one can call the bottom until it passes same way no-one can tell the top until it passes.... My own personal thoughts are we are pulling away from the bottom....... time will tell I have already seen confidence rise since october, november, december 08 and confidence leads to more sales. A lot of purchases during this time were exceptionally low, the prices are now higher thats all. Dont forget to buy when confidence is at an all time low and sell when confidence is at its highest which is what you have appeared to do pemcl........... so well done

Belfast Boy looks like things are getting quite desperate in your attempt now! Did you not know deflation is a little bit of a red herring now with the revaluation of global currencies currently taking place and with Sterling devalued recently.... What impact does that have on goods coming in? It increases them causing inflation not deflation making house building more expensive. Do you have any idea how much it costs to build a house now ! If you do just add 30% on now with imports being more expensive and increased energy componenets in houses such as more insulation etc etc. You have got to do better than this !!

Pemcl I hope your house hunting works out for you, you seem like a genuine person however in your statement above it is the "but" that gives it a way. Of course they want it to fall. The situation we are in now reminds me of dec 06 - april 07 when people were holding off until the summer time to sell their houses and the summer never came as by April 07 the Credit crunch was in force and prices were dropping. Some of the prices people paid were unbelieveable as soon as you heard about them and thought of selling your home the market had already crashed. Its not impossible for the same thing to happen here either... People are waiting and waiting !!! Waiting on what ! Yes yous will argue waiting on them to drop......... But from what I have seen prices are on the up you can no longer buy a house for less than it costs to build them and some of the panic put there has stopped because lower interest rates has had a huge huge impact on payments. Paymemts for many people have reduced by 2/3rds to 4/5ths taking interest only. It is important not to underestimate this effect. It is important to listen to a balanced opinion not just those with a Vested Interest in seeing them reduce its similar to the people with a vested interest in March 07 looking them to rise and look what happened there. Watch this get slated !!! Why ! Because everyone here has a vested interest in prices falling. they will continue to fall. Dont make the mistake that sellers thought in April 07 thinking prices would level out at the high prices same way as people may well be making the mistake that people are going to level out on the way down. Certain areas will bottom out marginaly quicker, but repossessed properties are going to be as cheap as it gets no matter what price you end up paying. Anyway best of luck with your house hunting.......

I am thinking the same as you ............ I get the feeling if you listen to all the negativity you will never buy a house. What do you think? I can see what you mean above..... Looks as if other people have got vested interests in talking the market down. Im afraid that if i listen to these people they will be saying the same things when it rises.... Bit like the little boy who cried wolf too many times? People start not to listen to them, Possibly thats not a bad approach to take. But thats just my humble opinion