Woot

Really interested to see your take on this. Would you mind just briefly explaining the rationale behind your projections please? What led you to draw those particular conclusions in that particular timeframe? Thanks

Good luck - glad you've found a home. Enjoy - I hope it goes well for you.

I'm still here, still looking, still hoping, still waiting. Trouble is, the longer we stay in the UK the less we want to live here.

I find the bias in the reporting disturbing though - the wording used still suggests sympathy with the mortgagees, not censure at their stupidity or lies. It's a long way away from sympathy with the priced out or prudent.

Be good to see the odd bank make a pre-emptive strike in suing those who lied when self-certifying... get their suit in before Chazney and Gareth strike: nip it in the bud before the bleaters who made bankruptcy respectable jump on this bandwagon.

I love the closing 'continuing spiral' line. Just love it!

Excellent news. It's no different to commuters buying up all the property in villages, leaving the local people unable to afford a home. Hopefully this will filter down throughout the market making houses realistically affordable to people who live and work in areas.

+1 Good advice.

Does anyone remember from the last time around, early 90s? Was there all this hyperbole by banks and other VIs telling us that prices cannot fall? I can't quite remember - although I do remember that EAs were telling us all that prices only go up, and that theirs was an aspirational career. I also remember a friend who bought a third floor, single bed flat for £45k and sold it 10 years later for £19k. Just, if the banks and government were not supporting the market last time then perhaps it could find it's own level in an unhindered way - unlike this time around.

The issues in Luton are far beyond your average chav problem. Militant Islam is rife with periodic riots (in season), marches and campaigns against all things non-Sharia \ Islamic; Luton hosted the militant campaigns against repatriation of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan. It has got steadily worse - ie more polarized and threatening for non-Muslims - over the last 20 years. The abuse that young women get on the streets there can be vile from Muslim men and the PC policing has meant that it has been difficult for the community to get protection. It's a great pity because the militants are not representative of the community, but they have the loudest and most intimidating voice; what's more worrying though is that increasing groups of kids from this area are becoming more militant eg making demands in their schools for special treatment that goes beyond that accorded to any other students. This is seemingly being done as a way of asserting their precedence in the community. It has acted as a magnet to the EDL too who see a void in the protection of British people and culture. Extremes on both sides playing out in Luton. So, it's not about snobbery, it's about safety, personal security and the erosion of the indigent community's culture. I wouldn't choose to live and raise kids there now if I had an option.

Damn I missed that bit - is that really what was being proposed? By whom? Can they really not see the flaw in the plan, or indeed how much of our current predicament comes from trying to support x00,000 jobless immigrants and their extended families?

Nigel Lawson looks terrible, doesn't he?

That's fantastic news but why, oh why, is it not happening here yet? What are the fundamental differences and how have we avoided the triggering event?

That's a thing of beauty and won't be there long... we need to save it for posterity:

So, can somebody in the know predict in rubber-meets-the-road terms what this will mean for the Greeks, the other Euro nations and for the UK? There are lots of hyperbolic predictions about but what does it mean for the individual in the street?

So could somebody itemize the realistic implications of a euro collapse - much easier to plan effectively for an identified risk, rather than a nebulous scenario.

What's the current exchange rate? Shabby, sad houses - not at all as I think of Vancouver.

The Blairs - case in point.

Does that explain the lack of internal photos?

+1 What reason is there for not limiting this treatment to those who have lived here for their entire life \ >10 years, or have paid into the system for 5+ years? And why do they think it's a 'good thing' to do it this way instead?

Any more news from locals on this story - how has the area panned out in the New Year sales? Are 2nd home buyers moving in, or BTL moving out?

I keep an eye on this region and I think I'm seeing a big influx of properties on Right Move this week... is this any one else's experience for this area and, if so, do you know why? Is it the BTL market selling up, or something else?

Got to disagree - I love Montevideo but can't stand Buenos Aires. Disagree on Prague too, but agree entirely on Warsaw (nasty) and Berlin.

It's a quarantine lab, right?

Yes but what does that actually mean... what will happen, in tangible terms, if Greece declares itself bankrupt? Do the creditors send in the bailiffs to strip their saleable assets? What does it mean on the ground when a nation declares bankruptcy?