Wayward

You are assuming that there will always be competitive bidding between buyers for housing ie conditions of scarcity. That is very much the case now and is engineered by the authorities. As such prices are as high as the funds folk can raise and linked closely to credit availability and ability to service that debt. However it is not always a given that there will be competitive bidding between buyers for housing in the event of over supply (eg massive over supply) or collapsing demand (eg migrants leaving). The conditions of scarcity that we all take for granted is a construct and can be de-constructed either by design or by accident.

That is the classic economists position just like their position was that a minimum wage will create unemployment.

How many of your regular high st EAs are members of RICS....? Is this bias towards top end of market??

I believe there was a HTB scheme on second hand stock initially but it was discontinued. I guess the idea was to kick start the ' nice little house house boom' George and David wanted...

15%.....I said meaningful price falls. We really need more than 15%...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47239360 "The number of homes repossessed in the UK fell to its lowest level since 1980 last year, industry figures show. There were 4,580 homes repossessed by mortgage lenders from owners who were unable to keep up with repayments on their home loans. Low mortgage rates and a less aggressive attitude from lenders has meant low levels of repossession in recent years. Mortgage arrears among homeowners have also been falling." I just can't see meaningful price falls without distressed selling...? I guess that comes from my recollection of the early 1990s. Only good news here is the comment on BTL borrowing... "there was a 7% rise in buy-to-let mortgage holders with significant levels of arrears, defined as 10% or more of the outstanding mortgage"

reported on BBC website as UK inflation falls to two-year low in January... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47224913 It highlights the easing of the 'income squeeze', marginal benefits for most. I don't remember the reporting of the wealth transfer CRUSH as owners of land and property watched their wealth balloon by £100Ks due to deliberate UKGov HPI policy and renters savers watched their hopes and dreams crushed over the last few years...

I would agree with this but I am bemused to hear about on site cinemas??? What? And why??

Everything else being equal HTB should put downward price pressure on second hand stock, particularly at the lower end if the market. HTB sucks demand out of 2nd hand market... This doesn't mean falls in 2nd hand market...just lower HPI than would otherwise have been the case. We see this in the data. I don't like HTB because it is very cynical and a grotesque market distortion and disgraceful use of public funds.

If Brexit means an end to FOM we will see lower rents and higher wages...That will do nicely thank you.

I had finished reading the blog entry in the opening post before realising this was 2012...!! Oh dear...just as well UKGOV implemented rational and fair policies to control HPI...

Exactly right ...Labour's position in thinking that workers will be adequately protected by regulations is naive...and the evidence supports this as conditions get worse as supply of labour increases.

People justify to themselves their decisions...regardless how terrible the outcome of these decisions they will delude themselves into a state of mind that makes life bearable.

Warning over councils’ investment in retail property Amid concern about the value of retail property and its potential to collapse as consumers move away from the high street and towards online shopping, the spotlight has been placed on councils’ exposure to the market. Spending by local authorities on property investments has grown from £76.4m in 2015 to £1.8bn last year, but some experts warn they are vastly overpaying because of a warped valuations market. David Wise at Kames Capital, said: "Local authorities are a buyer of the last resort but they don't have their eyes open and are not specialists. Too often they pay significantly more than anyone else is paying. As a fund manager, it's appealing, but as a taxpayer I have a big problem with it”. The sentiment was mirrored by James Watson at Colliers, who said "The intent is admirable but they don't have the experience to know if they are striking a deal at the right price. The problem is that there is such a rate of decline that they risk paying empty rates on vacant units to themselves." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/02/09/shock-store-swollen-property-prices/

TPTB don't care about the size of the pie...they care only that their favoured groups take a large slice...