2005

Wages can only rise wrt inflation That may be true in some sectors but not necessarily the case in every sector. Wages are subject to more influences than inflation alone. If there is a shortage of skills in some areas wages will rise. If there is a flood of skilled people in one sector then wage inflation will stay low. Some sectors have seen inflation busting wage increases in the last few years inlcuding in the public sector.

Yes - I start work at about 6.30am every day. I finish between 8-10pm if I am lucky. Sometimes I work through the night. I am working now. I sit in front of computer solving problems that would "turn your brain inside out" and "it's torture" I get paid £26K a year. The average house price in my area for a basic 3 bed semi is £225K. How does that work then? What the feck of the number of hours you work got to do with how much you get paid? I think you are missing the point. It is not the money that poeple earn for working hard that people resent - it is the gross differece in the money that city traders earn compared to others who work equally hard and put just as much into society and the economy as you do. If a young single bloke with no ties can up and move to London and work long hours- good for him. Try doing that when you have kids and schools to consider. Before you reply with 'well you should have got a job in the city then' perhaps you should remember that it takes a lot more than city traders to run this country and not working in the city does not make you a second class citizen.

No - Trafford does not include Salford Keys - it includes Old Trafford, Stretford, Urmston, Flixton, Sale, Altrincham, Hale and Bowden. Prices are silly mainly because Trafford still has the 11+ system. This is what you get for your money. This is old Trafford (drugs/crime etc), this place is very near moss side and has had similar problems to moss side in the past. Apparently a few years ago it was considered so poor (financially, educationally, health and employment etc) that it had more European funding going into it than any other place in the UK - it hasn;t changed much though. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-528...=2&tr_t=buy If you want to go up market near a decent grammar school then this is what you will get for your money http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-587...20&tr_t=buy If you want a flat you can pay as much as £25K http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-129...23&tr_t=buy The much sought after 4 bed house in a half decent part of altrincham will set you back a little more http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-587...=2&tr_t=buy This average joint income in Trafford is £36K

Don't be silly. If the majority ruled in every decision we wouldn't be paying any tax, all immirgrants would be sent home and we would still have a good state pension and nobody would be entitled to sickness benefit if they had a 'bad back' It's a little more complex than 'the majority rule'

Maybe most of the new approvals are existing homeowners remortgaing/mewing or moving. New blood is needed into the market and in order to entice first time buyers (or make buying a house seem affordable) they need to offer creative mortgages.

I was viewing a property in south manchester/cheshire last week and the EA told me that things had been static for the last 12-18months. Of course this is the same EA who had put £20K on top of last years selling price (but apparently prices haven't moved)

I'm in the North West (similar area to you I think) and I would agree with what you are seeing. Anything up to about £160K sells quickly and anything that needs 'modernising' (enter flippers) is sold before it hits the EA window. There is still some movement in the £300 -£500K bracket as along as it is well priced and presented well. The big log jam is in the £200-£250 mark which seems to be cursed with broken chains and slow sales. There are also a lot of 'dogs' that have been lying around for a while and won;t sell but vendors don;t reduce. I've seen houses that need a lot of attention priced £20-40K above the current selling price on some roads that sit there for ages but vendors don't seem to think about reducing. Generally is something is priced well and presented well it will sell but the market is still cluttered with vendors taking a chance with unreasonable asking prices. I got an email from an EA yesterday ( a circular) telling me it was a 'buyers market' and we should 'chance our luck putting in offers - you never know what the response may be'. Sounds to me like they are fed up carrying these overpriced properties as well.

YES Are you advocating locking people up and leaving them to starve to death? What a little ray of sunshine you are

i don;t see what the problem is. If it costs £300 a day to house a prisoner then that's what it costs. We would all be complaining if prisoners were escaping because of cost cutting measures. Prisons are expensive. They have to be desgined to be safe and secure. They need to be highly supervised. Many prisoners requie a high level of care (which they don;t seem to get). I think one point that hasn't been raised which is worth considering is the different types of prisoners. They all seemed to get lumped into one group - criminals. TBH I find locking someone up because they haven't paid a fine a complete waste of tax payers money. Locking up a dangerous offender with a history of violence is well worth the money and I would happily pay for them to be locked up longer. Locking up people with mental health problems and learning difficulties is barbaric and it amazes me that in a supposedly civilised society we still tolerate this. How many more suicides of young men and women do we have to tolerate before we stop locking up vulnerable people in prisons? On the other hand there is a different dimension to this and I am with Della who suggested that prison doesn't necessarily work. One reason for this is that some people actually prefer to be in prison. Some people are so institutionalised, have such a crap life outside, or are under so much stress (because they are involved in very violent gangs) that being in prison gives them a 'breather'. It offers them structure and predicatability which is often lacking in their life. Sometimes it just offers them a bed for a few nights. I think there is a role for prisons and it should be to protect the public from a person who is likely to cause further harm. They should not be used as dumping grounds to isolate vulnerable people who have slipped through the net.

Is this just about a UK house price crash or a **********?

No I will not compromise - I am hoping for 50% declines in Ecuador as a special case. I will only buy when Ecuador is crashing Sorry - it's Friday, and I'm rather close to 1000 posts. Me too

The reality is that selling BTl and investing the money elsewhere is not an option for most landlords. They wouldn't have any cash to invest anywhere else because all they own is debt not property. A ********** is on the way and when it happens BTL will be a dirty word for decades to come. When you are sat in the pub listening to how people lost their shirts by dabbling in BTl that is the time to go out and buy a BTL

The reason for HPI is cheap credit that has flooded the global economy. If land/shortage of housing/BTL etc were reasons we wouldn't have seen the global HPI we have seen across Europe and the USA at the same time. Global house price inflation = ********** we will all go down together

Global interest rate hikes = **********. Bring it on

The lucky appointee will still be in negative equity when the ********** starts and they may also be out of a job when the public sector finances start tightening - lambs to the slaughter.