Chesterfield

I stand to be corrected by others who have researched in greater detail. As stated my comments are based on observation of my own town and thus may not be representative of the country as a whole. This is why i've chosen to monitor the sale of the mentioned flats. My interest in the is academic only and I will try to present any factual sale information without bias

Do you all think there will be significant house price reductions. Even though I belive it would ultimately be a good thing for the majority, I cannot see it happening. My unqualified opinion is stagnation with a gentle downward trend, occasional leveling off and gentle upward trends following on from each other will occur (based on prices falling to where some people will buy, thus slightly increasing, becoming yet again unattainable to many and thus slightly decreasing and perpetuating the cycle). My reasons are: 1. People seem to prefer to say put (in the majority of cases) rather than drop price. Evidenced by reviewing house sales in my home town. A few are sold, a few appear to be sold then reappear on the market later. The majority remain unsold, though some for sale signs vanish without my ever seeing a subsequent sold sign 2. People are generally not forced to sell (though I appreciate the links posted by others that refer to the Ex Pats house sale problems, which does seem to provide a truer indicater of house devaluation) 3. Prices cannot go down if nobody is selling, they can even go up if the vendor decides to ask for more (mathematically rather than economically correct) so increased house price news may accurate, yet misleading I've decided to monitor the ?sale? of some new flat builds in Chesterfield: 1 - 3 bedroom flats ranging from stated asking prices of £106 to 178K Advertising is targeted (not exclusively though) at BTL Claimed 80% sold prior to completion (I'm unable to substantiate this claim) Claimed Mortgage assistance / guaranteed 6 % return for 12 months advertised Not exactly a bad area, but adjacent to one of the least popular ones Web ref:- http://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-f.../baho999000716/ PS I'm an IT Worker not an economist, so please don't shred me if you think my comments are incorrect, just explain why

Weren't the same claims about money markets predictions of a cut made in November (evidenced in September / October threads). The truth is speculation of rate changes 2 /3 months hence are impossible to call. I personally believe there will be a rate increase in line with a common global direction but IMHO only

Every few days there is yet another article telling us that for the first time in months that "house prices are rising" or "first time buyers are buying" . We will probably see the same headline next month

Chestefield is the same, lots of properties for sale, no drop in prices, no houses selling

Are both properties with the same estate agent? You could make a low offer (-20%) £104,000 on one and a mediocre offer (-14/15%) of £110,000 on the other as an initial starting point C

I haven't noticed any recent improvement!. In Chesterfield property prices are still high with no visible signs of a crash, but then again very few properties are selling (many have been on the market for >6mnths). All I can see is stagnation (well, a gentle downward slope as inflaction erodes house value slowly). Inflation is pressing for an IR increase, manufactoring pressing for a decrease so no help there. Salaries are increasing so house prices can rise? I got a 3% pay rise = £900 (easy maths to find my salary if you can be bothered). If the house I wanted (aprox £200,000) only went up by 1% it is still moving further and further away from what I can afford (yes I do realise that I can borrow more, but Britain once had the proud distinction of making slavery illegal in the world) Our problem is that we have a Chancellor who wishes to be PM. He needs to be popular and there is more popularity in keeping house prices artificially high so people 'feel' wealthier. His problem is that they are so high that they are becomming unaffordable regardless of incentive - hence stalemate and stagnation. I'm not an economist and my views are from observation of my locality. Interested to hear the opinion of others C.

A good posting, very well reasoned and stated

Housey, I'm banned from talking about house prices too. I would like to say that there is no sign of a crash in Chesterfield, There are quite a few properties for sale and none of them seem to be moving!!!! but nobody seems to think there is a crash???