North West anyone??

[Keefter]

Th days of 35k terraced houses are certainly long gone.

How the hell do you know?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Because I have spent hours analyising the housing market thats how!!!

Some people on this web site are getting a bit overexcited about prices dropping right back to where they were 10 years ago, yes they will drop but you'll never ever get a house for 94/95 prices, its just not going to happen, maybe at a real push you'll get equivilent prices in real trerms accounting for inflation over the last 10 years but I doubt it really.

If you think a terraced house which is now 110k will once again be 35k your living in a fantasy world.

[zzg113]

Keefter, you're only saying that because you've made a commitment to buy and you don't want to believe that you're making a huge mistake.

[simon99]

As much as I want the market to fall 70% I can't see it either, and I'm a super bear.

I'm constantly amazed houses in Preston area seem to keep selling at daft prices. Still the news that EA's have never known a time like it is encouraging. Lots of new houses being thrown up in Leyland, Penwortham, Buckshaw. But people still seem to be buying, I don't know where they're all coming from.

[Bott]

hours of analysis eh?

with my mere minutes of analysis, I aspire to your level of committment!

[dpg50000]

Anyone living in Preston noticed the sign outside the Greenheys new development off Blackpool Rd, £12,000 cashback!  Also, just further up, there is another development starting up - talk about flooding the market.  Maybe quite literally given their proximity to the canal!!  Also, on Garstang Rd, opposite Moor Park, there is a development of 3 story mew houses, and loads of signs outside for rent or sale.  Noticed one stated for auction, obviously getting quite desperate now.  This is all good news for me, as more supply increases, the more prices will drop?  Interested to hear anyone's views on the Preston housing market.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi, is it £12,000 cashback now? It was £10,000 about 3 months back. Which is kinda interesting - I looked at these houses about a year ago, decided they were too small, too close together and generally a rip-off at from £123K for 2 bed. Anyone know what the asking price is now?

There also the flats on Strand Rd - several for sale and to lets there. Plus the most recent development looks pretty empty / devoid of life everytime I drive past, no matter what time of day.

Worryingly, a few houses recently have sold round here. However, there's been a definite increase in no's for sale (especially old crappy terraces around the Deepdale area - at mad prices like 90-130k!) and they seem to be on for much longer. I know of at least 6 that have been on for a year.

Oh, forgot to mention. The Greenheys development was basically all plots sold when I looked at it (was APPROX 12 months ago) despite only about 4 of them being finished. Looks like they've overestimated demand since then....

[THE WATCHER]

Hi all not posted here now for a while (forgot my password )

But i was talking to an EA the other day and just came out and asked her about the housing market in St Helens. To my suprise she just blurted out its dead absolutely dead nothing is moving if it does its for less than advertised, just the other day we had a house up for 125K and got an offer for 100k of course the answer was NO but a week later the seller phoned back to say they will take 105k long story short they settled at 102k. i'm not one for seeing people lose their homes in a HPC but i'am for buying my own when i can afford it (so to the people who keep saying your not a FTB until youve bought fair enough BUT how can MOST of us be FTB when there so BLOODY HIGH :angry:

Housing is not affordable so stop BLOODY saying it is :angry:

(keefter have you bought because you sound like you have given up hope)

[Mr Joe]

Just been looking on www.ourproperty.co.uk

Well worth registering (free) The prices just a few years back are so cheap compared to todays.

Any comments?

Joe.

[simon99]

The Watcher, how many homeowners do you think lose sleep at the thought of first time buyers being priced out of the market? Not many.

Any one who gets wiped out by a fall in house prices shouldn't have been buying a house in the first place.

[bearly holding up]

This weeks property supplement hasmany new instructions and more reductions (although by fairly small amounts) then previous weeks.

[simon99]

Is this the LEP property supplement? I don't read it anymore, too depressing.

[bearly holding up]

Is this the LEP property supplement? I don't read it anymore, too depressing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry don't know what 'LEP'means.this supplement comes free with the local paper once a wek in Blackburn.

[SarahBell]

The man over the road sold his house recently and moved out - he'd sold it to someone who is going to rent it out and the bloke asked if his daughter could rent it - well they all moved out and as far as we've seen no one has been near it for two weeks...

Maybe he has money to burn this landlord - the house looked in good nick, well decorated as the bloke who has left was a painter and decorator... so I don't understand why he's not got anyone in it yet...

[zzg113]

so I don't understand why he's not got anyone in it yet...

Probably asking too much rent and getting no takers.

[simon99]

LEP = Lanc. Evening Post.

[Keefter]

Keefter, you're only saying that because you've made a commitment to buy and you don't want to believe that you're making a huge mistake.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL, Still hanging round here then ZZG? - You can't put your life on hold indefinately waiting for something significant to happen. I still expect them to come down more but stand by my 'those days are gone' statement.

[Keefter]

IN 1986 I used to be able to buy a mars bar for 15p now they're nearer 50p, its bloody ridiculous IMO, can't believe anyone would pay that sort of money for chocolate.

[Lenny]

I have been keeping an eye on my local estate agent's website, see below

http://www.richard-padgett.co.uk/

they have lots of reduced properties and no chain for sale, both myself and my partner are on low wages and can only get a mortgage for £77,000. I could afford to buy a terrace house, but its in an area where my front door is likely to get kicked in and for the price I dont think I will bother.

Praise the lord the crash comes quickly!!!!!

Frustrated FTB

[DTMark]

Driving home tonight I saw something I haven't seen in a very long time. I couldn't believe it - I actually saw an EA board that had turned from "FOR SALE" to "SOLD". It was a 2 bed terrace in a grim road where my imagination makes me wonder if, since a whole stack of them went up for sale at exactly the same time, they were all BTL/same landlord.

Before any of the bulls point to this as a turning point, there are two new "FOR SALE" signs in the same road.

I just thought I'd post this not to question the inevitable, actually to reinforce it: it's the first "SOLD" sign I've seen in Blackpool in the last six months. The number of properties for sale seems to grow by the week.

At least there's potentially one happy ex-landlord, anyway. As long as it doesn't fall through

[Ungeared]

IN 1986 I used to be able to buy a mars bar for 15p now they're nearer 50p, its bloody ridiculous IMO, can't believe anyone would pay that sort of money for chocolate.

January 23, 2005

Mars shake-up triggers fear of big job losses

Peter Koenig

MARS, the secretive, family-owned maker of Mars bars, Snickers and M&Ms, is considering a shake-up that could end the group’s chocolate production in Britain.

In response to rumours that Mars was planning to close its famous chocolate factory in Slough, the company last week told staff it was launching a pan-European consultation to “address sales growth, manufacturing capacity, and overheads and ways of workingâ€.

The group’s 11,000 European staff are concerned that the consultation is a prelude to a wide-ranging restructuring.

Frank Loveday, an organiser for the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, said staff feared the company was set to make big cuts. Rob Anderson, leader of the Slough borough council Labour group, said: “Rumours that Mars is pulling out make for worrying times.â€

Slough is home to Mars’s European headquarters, which employs 1,200 administrative staff. A further 500 work in the chocolate factory.

The consultation, set out in an internal memorandum, highlights tensions that have festered since family managers retired last summer. Day-to-day control was handed to Paul Michaels, based in Washington DC.

The Mars family, estimated by Forbes to be worth £16 billion, making them collectively the third-richest family in the world, ran the company as their personal fiefdom.

Staff were routinely subjected to tirades by family members, according to Jan Pottker and Joel Glenn Brenner, authors of two books about the company. In return the family paid high wages and rewarded loyalty.

Now the company is seeking to standardise practices. “We need to ensure that our business constantly adapts and responds to the competitive landscape,†said Pierre Laubies, the Slough-based president of the European business.

Mars, which vies with Nestlé to be the world’s biggest confectionery company, had $18 billion (£9.6 billion) in sales in 2004. It makes Whiskas and Pedigree pet food and Uncle Ben’s Rice as well as sweets.

Its secrecy is legendary. When founder Forrest Mars died in 1999 at 95, the company would not confirm it nor the fact that he had worked at Mars.

Behind the secrecy, the group runs one of the world’s most sophisticated marketing operations. It has served as a training ground for top managers, including Royal Mail boss Allan Leighton and O2 chief executive Peter Erskine.

The company patriarch, Forrest Mars, began making Mars bars in Slough in 1933. In 1940 he returned to America, bought out his father’s company, and in 1973 handed ownership to two sons and a daughter.

His children, Forrest Mars Jr, John and Jacqueline, built it into America’s third-largest private company by diversifying into 70 countries before retiring last year.

They leave 10 children in a position to inherit the company. Valeria, a daughter of Forrest Jr, is most prominent, helping with a 2002 acquisition of the French pet-food company Royal Canin.

Three others have had nothing to do with Mars. Observers wonder if family members not employed by the company will accept the practice of reinvesting profits in the business or whether divergent interests could cause a family rift.

“Whatever’s going on at the top, things in Slough are changing,†said Loveday, the union organiser. “People there tell me that they now feel more like a number than a name.â€

Maybe this is the result of a 50p Mars Bar!!

[Keefter]

IN 1986 I used to be able to buy a mars bar for 15p now they're nearer 50p, its bloody ridiculous IMO, can't believe anyone would pay that sort of money for chocolate.

January 23, 2005

Mars shake-up triggers fear of big job losses

Maybe this is the result of a 50p Mars Bar!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe this is a key indicator of a marsbar crash!! - what goes up must come down after all

[Ungeared]

www.marsbarcrash.co.uk

Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

[needle]

ok - moved to S Manchester last May.

Been looking for a place since then. Prices shot up just to spite me in the summer but now...now its VERY different.

Some of the houses on the market last summer are STILL ON THE MARKET.

However the keener witted folk (like a local property developer) sniffed the wind, dropped the price in a big way and got out before they went bust.

One house (the developers') was on the market for £375k went for £315.

Thats a 16% drop......and that was in October.

I too am seeing a lot of "new price" banners and the EA's are ringing me up!!!!!!

When an EA calls you to advise of a new property you KNOW its time to stay the hell out of the market.

Thats my tuppence worth

[SarahBell]

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/homesear...ailsworth_.html

Agents view - Nov 2004

"Terraces round here now are generally about £70,000, unless they have a loft conversion or a bit of a garden, but 12 months ago you could have bought one for £40,000. It is now getting harder for first-time buyers and they are looking at areas like Newton Heath and New Moston where you do not have to pay stamp duty. When you are starting out every few pounds helps.

"But I really do not think prices can go much higher around here. Local wages will just not sustain further increases, not for a while. And the market has been very quiet since summer.

"I am generally looking at reducing most properties by £5,000 and that seems to be working although sales are slow."

[Libertine]

Heard that the house that I used to rent (3-bed terrace in High Peak, which I've referred to earlier in this thread) was sold just before Xmas. It was on for £130 k - not sure what they got for it cos the data isn't available yet.

In trying to find what they got for it (nethouseprices.cm) I found out that it was bought in Summer 2000 for......£ 40k

Even if they took a £10k hit on the recent asking price, it has tripled in value in just over 4 years !! Possibly the very last of the smart BTL'ers leaving the ship ?!?!

That aside, it looks pretty positive round here. The market is absolutely flooded with new stock and the old stuff still isn't shifting. Prices still ridiculous in my target area but they are definitely starting to slide in the local BTL hotspots (where the sold signs are like street bunting on coronaton day!!).

Hang in there !

[ubuntu]

You know the market is crazy in Manchester when 3 bed semis cost c180k in the areas where I grew up: Old Trafford/Firswood/Chorlton. These can harldy be described as plush areas.