jocohen

when was the peak period for sales over the last 2 years ? shouldn't we be expecting a large number of people who made up their salaries and hence fraudulently obtained mortgages to be up for re mortgage soon? Surely these people will be in significant trouble? I can't help feel that people who falsified these documents should be investigated for fraud

The strange thing is that our saving grace may be that some countries are in an even worse situation then us. and for all the decline in state school education we still have great private and grammer schools producing talented youngsters. The fact that many fraudsters ..i mean bankers can afford to send their kids to these schools does cause me some consternation but it does give uk plc a fighting chance. Look at sweden france italy..there isn't much flexibility in those nations. We as an economy are deflating and may have to take a hit, aslong as we avoid voting for socialists and other idiots we may have a chance Its interesting how alan greenspan still won't acknowledge his complete incompetence. experts indeed!

in terms of number of deaths that will happen over the next 50 years i think climate change will be a more major issue then the several hundred thieves that have masqueraded as bankers. So with regard to the big picture he is probably right even if we don't want to hear that right now

i've visited several people at the priory over the years and for mental health problems it is the best available, for lots of things the nhs is actually better then private, except waiting times. but not mental health. i've also visited a nhs mental hospital for a relative and i've never been so frightened in my life..

on the point of people earning cash in hand declaring lower then real income that was true when there was a good income. trust me i don't know any small trader who has maintained income over the last 18 months. Also the taxman is getting savvy to those who play these games partly because honest folks are fed up to the back teeth of people committing these types of fraud

thats nice to know as thats my part of the world! I though the assumption things were still heading southwards and would 30% provide any protection for the buyer

i have no time for socialist nonsense but to try and rewrite history by claiming that allowing lehman and northern to go to the wall would have been the end of the economic trouble of it is also pushing truth. The only right wing economists who were opposed to propping up the banks are the von mises people but they were also sceptical about our obsession with finance rather then real production. Traditional centre right economics which respects real productivity based growth and not 'masters of the universe' types. Money as an exchange tool not as a engineering product.. These are absolute basics which would be common ground to free marketeers and some lefties. But these huge questions have not been discussed yet, we're so far into the crisis and these tough changes to the way we do things has not been touched

Its painful for those who will lose out, but those who were profiteering will ot get much sympathy. How and when can we move forward if this correction does not happen

is he any different to any of thousands of stockbroker estate agents and other vested interests?

jon stewart is very funny. Although ir does not read comfortably reading the description of jew being included i have to admit i can be over sensitive. He is jewish by the way. And just because the courts choose to label being jewish as being a race it just takes the concept of race and makes it undefinable!

I am very glad my house is my home and not a short term investment tool. The shameful thing is, is that mnay people didn't have a choice they bought and sold as needed and as they move jobs and try to get jobs will take huge losses. It does crystallise where we are when we start seeing these collapses. And it'll get worse before the nation wakes up to the idea of houses as homes first. Lets look after people not think these are luxuries only.

the most frightening thing is that those who have lost jobs are probably now finishing their redundancy pay. With more unemployed, many foreign workers leaving, there will be more property becoming available. I have always thought the correction needs to take its full course asap and then this will allow the rest of the economy to move on. it'll need realignment of our obsession with making money from homes. But the worsening state of the economy means we will be stuck in this position for some time and gordon the moron does not have the foggiest clue how to even prepare us for when things recover

First the ideological drive which is against professions in the labour party is quite frightening. They wish to destroy the people who create a nation - the educated middle class. Granted it was also the educated middle class that gor greedy and caused this housing mania. On the subject of GP's its the toughest job in medicine - putting up with the great british public and picking up disease is no easy task and 12 years of training is the minimum. My daughter is about to become one and considering she was the top student in her med school i think whoever gets her as a gp will be very fortunate. My son is also training to become a consultant in hospital and how he got through medical school is one of the miracles of the natural world. So if i defend doctors it is with some insight.

wow the presenter was fantastic. How he resisted whacking gordon the moron is beyond me. The man is a complete F***wit. The socialist stench coming from these people sickens me

whats the best site for checking land registry official house prices. many sites seem to be 3 months behind in their figures?

I see nothing positive in this news. the only solution is if the economy deflates such that it allows our workers to be competitive with indians. this is disasterous as it suggests a collapse in living standards for us all. With the decline in our educational standards it'll take 5-10 years to turn things around. I have no doubt that as a nation we can get back on our feet but it means reversing 10 yrs worth of labour's social agenda. Invaraibly that'll mean getting rid of 10% of the good to get rid of 90% of the bad, has cameron got the balls for it? don't know

i think that was the premise. an retiree with 100k in the bank. nothing else. of course suddenly we've had answers which require this person to live in such an area where they can get a 'very very good flat' for a 100k which returns yields of 6-7 % and there are plenty of tenants in the area. Its obvious hamish and steamerpoint are losing their grip on reality. I want things moving to, but an honest discussion is the starting point not fantasy land

I think this was the optimists suggesting the world was about to go back to 'normal' no such luck i'm afraid

I hope you're still awake at this time because your business is struggling. Which i can safely assume it is. Why do you feel the need to steal and fleece hard working elderly folks?

6-7.5 % yield on a very nice 100K flat!! So the person loses access to emergency money, deals with repairs and changing tenants as well as unknown value on the property at the end of 5 years Where do you live may i ask?

it is amazing that so many people think by talking up the market things will return to how they were by magic. I would love to see a return to blind optimism but i am in the real economy and unemployment is on the increase and uncertainty is still there for the next few years yet. I like the fact you're trying to talk things up but your attitude is what caused the problem, speculation was encouraged and pure unadulterated greed

Why are you trying to talk things up just to fleece the elderly - i don't think retirees are up at this time to read to your greed fuelled nonsense

in the doom monger scenario the retiree have 80k at the end, no stress etc assuming the retiree spends 50% deposit on a mortgage and gets a 200k house they would pay £1000 on repayment mortage at 3.85% or about £320 on interest only mortgage over 10 years. they would have to get fairly stupid tenants to make a 5% return on that. Also their age would limit the type of mortgage they get etc, also costs of doing up a property etc and for 200k you not looking at good property with reasonable tenants. Many of the decent high paying tenants certainly in the south east were foreign workers who seems to be disappearing. Are you suggesting that to your parents? This is a silly suggestion which shows people would rather fleece the elderly then give some decent advice

There won't be a run on the pound? surely that could happen also isn't regulation limiting the amount of mortgage that is available and increased unemployment the biggest reasons for the further drops in house prices we'll see over the next 2 years or so. Increasing interest rates would just be additional and unwelcome pressure on this market.

Isn't this the core of the problem, there are those who think the market was talked down and respond by trying to talk it up. But what is happening is for political reasons the market is being slowed in finding its own level. So instead of a quick and very painful crash which just affects some homeowners who overpaid; everyone is suffering from a very long slow decline. there are so many rentals out there and these will drip onto the market over the next few years. So the homeowners who have moved in with parents will eventually lose but just slowly. Haven't we seen this with estate agents - those who remain competitive have survived. But every business has its breaking point. I would have thought estate agents would have wanted the bottom to be reached asap and not talking it up for the sake of it.