HPC Convert

No bad thing.

More whining from those who think the world owes them something. Only interesting part was the comments about how much fun it is renting. Not a view that is allowed with the tin hat brigade on this site though.

Thats right - the Sun is the voice of the people. The Sun is a a cleverly run corporate machine that knows precisely where it's bread is buttered. Why do you think it fought shy of saying "crash"? It is posturing. Once Gordon gives in on IHT or immigration, the stories will revert to HPI.

If this index is based on mortgage approvals does one reasonably infer prices are rising?

Again, simply not true. The article suggested that as many as 1 in 3 jobs in investment bank units engaged in packaging mortgage backed debt might face the axe. Plenty of supposition and certainly not 1 in 3 of the City job population. Sorry to disappoint, but i think the six figure basics will be rolling for a good while longer.

The only problem of course is that the Nationwide stats dont say this at all. Yet another clear example of the Times/Sun stable out to do Gordon.

Dear Lord ive only asked in this thread about 5 times.....

3.2 % YOY falls across an entire nation is hardly a crash. But if its meaningless to say the US is one market as an earlier poster suggested, then the relevance of the YOY stats is suspect too. Some areas of the US must be experiencing significant HPI if florida and california (well known comparables to the UK) are down by 20% or whatever the figure is..

Then lets all stop saying US house prices are crashing. Lets all be region specific in future.

Any relevance to my post? Are those indices correct? What do you think?

If one of you could show me the triumph of hope over experience than i would gladly change my mind. Where is the crash? Show it to me! Dont tell me its on its way or its inevitable or everything points to it. Show me something that substantiates the hope that a crash in property prices is upon us. Just give me something! I posted earlier that the housing markets in spain/USA/ireland were holding up - no one said otherwise. Where is the crash?

Meant sir in jest and i hope it was taken that way! No offence meant.

Yup thats exactly what happens. Usually lending from CB is overnight but as well as recently reducing the coupon the FED reduced the % borrow fee and extended the loan time to 30 days. The money will be repaid and will be relent again. The discount window is not an unlimited pit for anyone to borrow from - a bank has to show it is good to make the repayments. The alternative would be to just bail out bankrupt banks for 30 days at a cost of billions and then count the cost. It doesnt work that way.

http://www.candydirect.com/headwear/SOLDIERS-HELMET.html You might find this useful.

"Are we likely to see the same problems with sub-prime lenders in the UK mortgage market, and will this lead to a housing market slump as it has done in the US?" "This is unlikely" Times sounds quite bullish on this point.