Sinking Feeling

Asking prices for houses in he 250K+ bracket seem to have dropped recently in this area- by huge margins and stil can't sell. It's only a matter of time before this feeds through to the smaller houses. If anything this gazumping frenzy shows that we may be entering the final stage before market confidence turns.

Yeah his argument revolved around London as the financial capital of the world and money flowing in.......all's good and the stock market only ever goes up........ ..........'til last Tuesday! If London's hopes of eternal price rises are based on the city's performance I think I can see where it's headed.

If that were true there would not be any empty rental properties and voids would be almost unheard of. People still want to own their home, that is why house prices are so high!

I thought it was amusing when the EA in the Country talked about the last crash and how it wasn't uncommon for people to have lost a million. Then as almost an after thought he said something to the effect of "but of course it won't happen this time".

Funnily enough, I was thinking about that episode only last week as I was walking through WH Smiths and noticing all the covers of the investment mags with headlines like "the new gold rush"- I hadn't seen anything like that since 1999/2000. I figured then that the stock market was doomed and this week I seem to have been proved right!

I have to say that I hated new Labour right from the word go and couldn't understand why anyone liked them. However, I will play devil's advocate for a moment, and can see that some towns and cities have completely changed in the last 10 years- Manchester for instance. The only problem is that all this change has come at huge expense, not to us in the past, but now in the present and for many years into the future. We are already seeing the changes being implemented for the final year of this economic cycle April 2007- April 2008 (nurses pay deals, cuts etc). The next few years don't look good!

Not all states are affected yet, but it's speading fast!

I think we will begin to hear a lot more of these type of stories. Tuesday's fall in the stock market signalled a shift in economic, social and political change.

I would guess at least 2 quarters!

I could be wrong, but this Government seems to have had the easiest run in political history, with the weakest, most ineffectual opposition this country has ever known. The feeling for the first few years seemed to be one of apathy amongst the general public, but increasingly I get the feeling that people are becoming more and more fustrated and annoyed. When the recession hits I feel this resentment may spill out into something quite dangerous!

I think the recent figures for Jan put it at 13%- and that was after a rate rise. I think this coupled with the highest amounts of borrowing in Jan is a reason why the BoE might raise IRs again.

That may be true if you could get a mortgage fixed at 3.5% base for 25 years!

Until he wakes to find the EAs and repo men want to sell his big white house.

I guess he's trying to bring down the inflation figures!

I'm putting all my money in property, it seems like the only safe haven- house prices only ever go up!

.........but I thought Gordon Brown had eliminated boom and bust from the business cycle!

Time to buy up all those cheap far eastern goods before the price rises methinks!

I'm a Libra, what does all this mean for me?

Plenty of for sale signs on my road- probably 12 or more along one road within half a mile!

No shortage of supply of any type of housing as far as I can see. Just that the prices are too bloody high for most people to afford. I think we may have reached the greatest fool stage in this area!

When is this madness going to end? I think the market has gone beyond a mere bubble and has now reached Zeppelin status!

"House prices crashing" next week perhaps?

There seem to be plenty of plenty of properties for sale round my way, but none seem to actually be selling even though there are a couple at the higher end that are extremely cheap given recent prices. There's a house a few doors up from my parents that would have been on the market at £550,000 last year, now it's £350,000 and isn't getting any interest!

I was only kidding! I forgot to add some faces on to show that I wasn't serious.

I thought you didn't want to give away your identity, in 5 posts we know you are an estate agent (although there were some clues in the name) in the NE (probably Yorkshire)!! Another 5 and we'll no doubt know where you work and the name of your dog.