Antsy

It'll give him a better quality of wind for when he can't afford the electric for the bubbles anymore, though

Don't think I could be bothered taking the casing to light switch though. laugh.gif Haven't you seen the price of metals nowadays? There's a KFC's worth in them damn walls

It couldn't happen here - just ask MEW boy

Unless you're a teenager in Peckham, that is...

Exactly. And I wonder why? How much might actually reach the coasts if the generals deal with it? After the whole Iraq / Afghanistan debacle, people are very paranoid about the intentions of the UK / US and their foreign policy. But Myanmar / Burma's military rule is extremely nasty. Go look it up on Amnesty International's website if you still think it's a poor little country uner threat from meddling imperialist powers.

Oddly, TOTAL is Burma's largest foreign investor... But even by US standards, I can't see how they could make the situation worse for the people living there if they invaded. It's a human rights disaster zone. My mate is married to a Burmese girl. Last time he went to visit her family he was followed everywhere. Mobile phones are banned, etc etc. It's a nightmare.

From 'This is Cornwall' so probably appeared in the C ornish Guardian / West Briton: "Estate agents in the South West are predicting that prices will continue to fall for at least the next 12 months. Much of Devon and Cornwall has seen prices falling at the rate of about 2 per cent a month since the end of last year" Oh dear.

Agree. We have a cat. £50 or thereabouts for yearly boosters, £100 to have her gnashers cleaned, none of which is covered by the monthly £6 insurance. Before anyone says that's a waste of money (the insurance, not the cat - though sometimes that's debatable too), it will be years before the insurers so much as break even on us as we've already claimed £800 in vets treatment.

Exactly - there is always a need for rented property, but it should be provided professionally. Likewise, people should be encouraged to set up businesses. However, people who would otherwise have turned their hand to something constructive are currently - with the encouragement of people such as the Wilsons - wasting their energy on building get rich quick BTL empires. Doesn't do much for the UK. Also, I dislike them as they give teachers a bad name and we need all the help we can get, seeing as the parents of most of our charges see us as nothing more than overpaid glorified babysitters as it is, bless 'em

Sorry - just quoting the letting agent that showed us round the other week. Perhaps she meant 600? I am useless at estimating populations... Either way, the road at the top of town is creaking with traffic at the moment. Far worse than i remember it when I lived there 15 years ago, it's like a permanent go slow (and it's not even the season yet). Either way, I have no idea what Carrick Council thinks it is doing.

And Gloweth (just at the top of the road) is where the 6000 houses are going in. Assuming each has more than one bedroom, that's a lot of dental students they're expecting...

See you there - we're off to Truro for much the same reason and from much the same place in a few months. I grew up near there and have persuaded the Mrs to relocate for the kids' sake. Spent a very interesting few days recently viewing rentals. Apparently lots more are coming on presently as people can't sell and don't know what else to do with their personal millstone. Hence, the EA said rents were going down. Hooray! And just when I thought the good news was over, she added that 6000 more houses were being constructed presently on one side of the City alone. That'll put some nice downward pressure on...

Allowing distressed tenants to stay on but renting from the bank... yep, I can really see the Barclays Indian call centre going into overdrive when they call up to say their boiler's broken or the toilet's spewing sewage across the landing. Great idea Al... NEXT!!

His column is quite often contradicted by that of the Business section's editor in the opinion column appearing above Smith's uber-optimistic ramblings on the page

Sunday Times Economics Editor David Smith told delegates at a major housing conference in Wales today that the UK was coming out of the longest period of economic growth ever seen but was not about to face a recession or a house price crash. Housing professionals at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Cymru annual conference in Cardiff heard the leading economist's assessment that "the housing market is integral to the UK economy" and that demand for housing was outstripping modest rises in house building figures. David Smith said that despite a slow down in house prices, a rise in the cost of borrowing and a cut in the supply of mortgage products by around two thirds, "we should not over-do the gloom". Quoting a "strong and unusual rise in house prices" over the past ten years where average prices had gone from £60,000 to £180,000, Mr Smith said, "house prices would have to fall quite a lot before we saw the return of negative equity". Peter Williams, Executive Director of the Intermediate Mortgage Lenders Association, also speaking at the CIH event, emphasised the differences between the UK market and the United States, whose problems with sub prime lending have led to the credit crunch. In the UK sub prime lending accounts for around 6% of the mortgage market, rather than around 20% in the USA. Tighter lending criteria in the UK, a lack of tax relief on mortgages and generally higher interest rates than the USA, made the picture very different in this country, he said. Hmm, so according to his wisdom, little negative equity is likely. Has he never heard of MEW? People made packet on paper, but sadly huge numbers pi***d it all away on bling. Anyway, house prices are static and falling, mortgage bills are rising and there's no new money to feed the market. David - given all this news, at what point DO people have the right to start 'doing the gloom'? Armageddon? Even then he'd be running through the streets shouting 'it's just a blip'. As for the 'strong and unusual rise' in prices... David, for the last time it's called a BUBBLE, geddit?

How many people will be thinking that the ES is just doing an 'April Fool'... until they have the sudden horrible realisation that this is real?

Exactly - add the fact that the link between interest rates and mortgage rates is now being broken and it barely matters.

"So they're not looking YET for property club members." no... they want a 'serious' show, not ne that's lke shooting fish in a barrel.

Don't get me started on the state of Sheppey or Planet Thanet.

Already going down in Br3 and SE20. The problem with London is that commentators only take this to be the very centre. Actually, the crash is spreading from the outside in.

Good luck hunting...

"I have some collegues who run offices in SE london where 80% of their current register are made up of repossessions." HonestEA - care to elaborate on postcodes or general areas at all? I'm guessing Thamesmead / Plumstead / Bexley but also possibly SE20 where I'm watching. Lots coming onto the market and being reduced now.

Wife sent me this gem of a post-budget comment: David Salusbury, Chairman, National Landlords Association, commenting on Budget 2008, said: "We are pleased to see that both stability and strength are the cornerstones of this year's Budget. "Landlords who have acquired property in recent years who are looking to sell will be pleased to hear that the planned changes to the Capital Gains Tax regime go ahead next month. It effectively means landlords who want to release some equity from their portfolios will only pay a flat rate of 18% on their capital gain. "It's a pity that the Chancellor didn't take this opportunity to include landlords in the entrepreneurs' relief which would have reduced the CGT rate to 10% for the first £1 million of gains." More of a pity that I wasn't standing next to him with a large mallet when he came out with that one, but you can't have it all...

Or to summarise 'Britain is fcuked'

Full steam ahead, captain. Never mind that iceberg, it was only a scratch... Young Index Reveals Stable Property Market Sentiment “For some it may be the best of times and the worst of times, but the UK’s property market in now A tale of Just One City…London, as Young Index data for the first quarter of 2008 reveals that investor sentiment is robust in the capital” Neil Young, CEO, Young Group Young Index: Summary Results 86% of investors believe residential property values in London will rise or remain static over the next 12 months (compared to 82% in Q4,2007) Dear god, why do they all think prices are still going UP??????? This isn't the London I'm in. Must be on another planet.