Chris G

And on such an incredible scale too, still hard to believe.

It really is a concern that eas can get away with this and there is one reason for it, lack of transparency. Not really sure what the best solution is, but something along the lines of all offers being submitted to an independent body would soon sort this out. It is vital that people have faith in those that work in the industry.

Have to agree with this too, companies should stick to what they are good at, once you enter areas you know little about you are going to end up losing money. I also think if we would like a housing market where first time buyers and the like can afford to buy a house then we need to discourage big corporations from buying houses, it will just stoke up prices eventually.

Couldn't agree more, how anyone things Sarah Beeney has that much influence on our lives I'll never know. I would like to think most people when they are buying a property wouldn't be thinking Sarah Beeney recommends it so it must be good.

Really interesting article. Earning to house prices is to me such a crucial measure of where the market is at and I guess we will see prices continue to fall. Didn't know interest rates in America have so little impact on household income, can people not get out of fix rate mortgages? Finally Spain I feel will continue to plumet, I do expect prices to continue falling.

This will obviously increase their cost of borrowing which is just what they need right now. Really am concerned about how this is going to play out long term.

I've posted a few times on an Irish property forum and to say it is depressing would understate where they are at. The government is incredibly exposed because of how much they have funded the banks and how much the banks make up as a % of the economy. Prices will continue to fall because they are still incredibly high, and wages will continue to fall and when you combine that with huge tax increases where do you go. I don't mean to demean the suffering of all those going through this but this will be an incredibly important test for the euro and how the euro governments deal with this. Because they are in the euro the currency can't devalue to give their exports a boost helping them recover, so wages have to fall instead which is incredibly difficult with unions. What happens if Ireland goes bust, I imagine the other countries in the common currency will have to bail them out?

I really couldn't have said it better than that, this will hopefully encourage responsible lending.

Would agree totally with you, it was clear for so long that prices were too high. The hope is through this crisis we come out the other end in a better position i.e. getting the right balance on lending, having sufficient competition in the market from banks ( I would like more smaller banks), changing culture a wee bit in terms of valuing people according to what they own, and people thinking owning loads of things will make them happy. I always remind myself that some of the happiest people in society are monks, and how many possessions do they have!?

Is this not idiotic and stupid to order someone to pay such an astronomical amount i.e. making an **** out of the law. This guy has obviously done what he did due to the perverse incentives where he worked and a lack of controls, I blame the bank much more than the trader. I'm not sure how bankrupting this guy benefits us all?

Is it not just the case that with house prices and so on still falling more people are going into negative equity and a percentage of these are going bust, not being able to pay the money back to the bank. As a consequence the banks bad debts are still high, and when the repossessed houses go back on the market the increased supply drops prices again causing a vicious circle.

I think the first thing I would say is that it isn't government cash, it is our cash that the government has been 'safeguarding'. £1.2 trillion, that is 12 with eleven noughts on it, so say the working population is 40 million that is £30k per working person, is that right? Incredible figures, hope I'm a zero out somewhere along the line! Northern Ireland Property

Friends of mine was recently in Spain looking at houses and the agent said to them that the market was now bottoming out. The problem was the same agent said the exact same thing to them 6 months earlier! Northern Ireland Property

Have to agree this is a really good thing that people are beginning to realise that prices are having to fall. Prices falling and banks lending and the market will recovered to some semblence of normality. I imagine falling prices might put banks off lending though, if they expect prices to fall in the future this will increase their risk, I guess they need to minimise this with big deposits?

I think estate agents would need to be very careful in doing this. Trading Standards could catch them out as it amounts to false advertising, but I do imagine estate agents would stretch the truth a bit here and there, wouldn't they?!

I think you could always add to this the movement to more people living on their own or with fewer people. One the other side a 3 or 4 bed semi could just as easily be converted into a couple of apartments!

Have to say Goldfever well done with your profit on the gold, really great achievement!

Home owner myself and I would agree with you totally, for the benefit of society and I would suggest the longer term economy prices need to continue to fall. We need a balanced economy and I think NI relies too heavily on property and construction.

Parts of Craigavon have improved, Drumbeg isn't one of them though!

Would love to hear how you get on, great to see people doing something different. Good luck.

Some of those looked reasonable value, nothing that would blow you away though.

Personally speaking I would always go to a FA, leave it to the experts.

I agree we really aren't out of the worst of it for repossessions, I think it will be a long hard slog for so many people the next few years.

Found this post a really interesting read, would be grateful if you would update us on what you did Binchy.

I'll tell ya about a pet gripe of mine, that we don't have good business/entrepreneur classes in our school from a relatively early age. I know it isn't for everyone but if we want to make Northern Ireland a great economy we need a great private sector, and that will only come in the long term from local entrepreneurs. I remember subjects at school that I knew were never going to be of use to me, RE, CDT (woodwork), surely some kind of business education/entrepreneur classes would be good. Also we should have learnt how to type, is an invaluable skill for so many people. Rant over!