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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36086012 " Listening to details of when the M62 motorway is likely to be upgraded - or how the high-speed railway HS2 is progressing - may not be your idea of a scintillating weekend. But this Saturday and Sunday 500 Chinese investors will be lapping up such details in two of Hong Kong's s*****iest hotels, along with their dim sum. No longer will they be staring at artist impressions of Canary Wharf or Battersea. Instead, lured by George Osborne's promotion of the "Northern Powerhouse", Chinese investors are packing their bags and heading up the M6. " " In the process the Chinese are helping to fuel the beginnings of a property boom and push up prices, particularly in Liverpool and Manchester. Little wonder that earlier this month the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) reported that prices in London are expected to fall significantly over the next three months, while prices in the North West are expected to soar. " " 'First of all it's the Northern Powerhouse - because they've heard that much new infrastructure is coming to the North. And another thing is the railway,' she tells the BBC. " " In one recent development at Salford Quays, called the Dock Office, just half the apartments were sold to local people. A quarter went to Chinese nationals, and a further quarter went to Brits living abroad. Julie Twist, an estate agent who specialises in Manchester city centre apartments, was surprised at how much money the Chinese were prepared to spend. 'The prices were hefty on those. But £300 a square foot is nothing to them,' she says. 'It's definitely pushing up prices, because they're bringing a lot of cash over here.' " " The Chinese are not just buying Manchester. They are building it as well. The Beijing Engineering Construction Group is investing £800m in Manchester's Airport City, which will include a hub for other Chinese firms to set up. President Xi Jinping saw the site in person when he visited last year. The street names will be in Mandarin as well as English. " " But property booms, like the gold rush, are unstoppable. Mr Wills-Woodward knows of one Chinese family who sold up in London, and drove up the M6 in search of new opportunities. 'Manchester is going to become the London of the North,' he predicts. " Typical BBC journalism

Something is up. The entire MSM now apparently want a crash despite years of ramping. Simon Lambert has been particularly bad... until now? http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/comment/article-3699739/Osborne-house-price-addiction-worse-Hammond-stop-it.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/housing-crisis-is-a-threat-to-londons-industry-business-leaders-warn-a3219171.html Housing crisis is a threat to London's industry, business leaders warn More than 50 business leaders today warned that London’s housing crisis is now so acute it threatens to damage the city’s “world-beating” technology and creative industries, as well as other key sectors. Advertising chief Sir Martin Sorrell, Canary Wharf Group boss Sir George Iacobescu, architect Sir Terry Farrell and lastminute.com co-founder Baroness Lane-Fox are among signatories of a letter to the Evening Standard sounding the alarm over sky-high property prices and rents. “The housing crisis in London is a major problem for business,” they write. “If not addressed, whole sectors, including our world-beating technology sector and creative industries, will struggle to recruit and retain staff and find themselves losing out to international competitors. “Resolving the issue is now urgent, so that we can protect the creativity, innovation and energy which drive London’s business community.” Other bosses to sign include John Lewis’ productivity director Andrew Murphy; Robert Elliott, chairman of law firm Linklaters; Kathryn Nichols, chief executive of management consultancy The Nichols Group; Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye; and British Land chief executive Chris Grigg. Baroness Lane-Fox said: “It’s vital for London to offer homes to the creative, tech and entrepreneurial talent we rely on to keep our city diverse and thriving.” Sir George Iacobescu said: “London is a magnet for talented workers but its success means the incoming mayor must fix the housing shortage.” Molly Jackson, deputy chief executive of the Southbank Centre, said: “Without sufficient affordable housing or access to proper studio space many workers in the creative industries will be forced to move elsewhere. “This is a huge concern as London’s cultural institutions, aside from enriching our quality of life, are vital to its economy — drawing millions of tourists each year as well as international businesses.” Mr Elliott said: “The shortage of housing is a real issue for workers in the capital and a growing problem for employers wanting to attract the best talent. If not resolved, I feel it will progressively affect London’s competitiveness.” The letter was compiled by business group London First, which also released a report for the Fifty Thousand Homes campaign warning of “extreme housing pressure” in the city. The report warns that over the next decade the housing crisis will increasingly hit workers in the “flat-white economy” such as creative media, advertising, market research and software development. The study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research forecasts a range of scenarios, including one of a year when a typical worker aged 22 to 29 would have to spend at least 60 per cent of net income on rent for an inner London studio flat. Such expenditure would force many people to flat-share. For a large group of employees, including nurses, this is already the case. However, the study says this would extend to many young staff in scientific research and development by 2018, teaching and the property business by 2019, telecommunications by 2021 then architecture and engineering by 2023. In 2024 young staff in computer programming and broadcasting would be affected, followed by those in advertising and market research in 2025 then publishing and information in 2027. If the current housing market trend continues, by 2040 only young financial sector employees would be able to rent an inner London studio flat without coming under such “extreme housing pressure”. A one-bedroom inner London flat is already unaffordable to all young professionals apart from those in about half a dozen sectors including City workers, insurance and pension fund employees, doctors and management consultants. The study also warned that by 2025 individuals in London’s “up and coming” sectors, particularly hi-tech and creative industries, face having to save for more than a decade to get together 10 per cent for a deposit on a first-time home in the capital. The Fifty Thousand Homes campaign is urging the next mayor to pledge to build at least 50,000 homes annually in London. It's front page, funny coming from a paper that ramps property through it's Homes and Property section and makes huge reveneus from builders advertsing their overpriced rabbit huts.

Mrs e-f was babbling on this morning about the btl genius in East Anglia, on the front page of the Telegraph. Help me, what do I say?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11173422/House-prices-Now-is-the-right-time-to-buy-that-home.html Good bit of ramping by the Telegraph. Let's get the property market rising again before the next election. Of course, it's beyond anyone in the establishment to examine whether an economy where there's a "right" and "wrong" time to buy a home is in fact completely dysfunctional, and whether reducing a basic need - adequate shelter - to an act of financial speculation is a fundamental failure of the economy work for those who create value within it. It even suggests you move to Hove (which I'm sure is lovely) not because you might want to live there, but purely because it is somewhere you can buy a modest family home in the South East for the bargain price of £500k. But don't think about it too hard. Just get that 5x mortgage, now, before you miss the boat.