Sheeple's Sentiment Starts To Shift

[Ben from Dover]

I was just reading that article posted on the main page about personal debt in the country.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/7528524/Budget-2010-We-are-in-danger-of-ignoring-Britains-real-debt-disaster.html

Really interesting article. I got half way through and was struck by this line:

"It is not certain that the house-price gamble any longer pays of"f.

WOW. that is the first time I have seen anybody admit that in the main stream (not money week) press.

I think it represents a major turning point. I've been saying for a while that the HPC will be protracted over many years as sentiment turns against the housing market. To see something like this in a major newspaper I think is quite a milestone. It was not even followed up by a BBC style comment about how the cyclical housing market means that prices will eventually rebound.

Over the next few years sheeple up and down the UK will realize that there is no ladder, it was all just lies - a ponzi - and they are going to have to work to earn money to buy the stuff they wont.

How will they be able to cope...

[Ben from Dover]

Sorry to do a Dr Bubb and reply to my own post but some more WOW quotes from that article:

Yet public and political attitudes still have not adjusted. It is still considered a good thing to "help first-time buyers"

first-time buyers are currently borrowing an average of between four and five times their annual household income when, to be safe, that multiple should stay below three

The interest is like the rent. They have somewhere to live, but if they cannot pay each month, they end up with nothing

It is wrong to go on presenting the bottom rung of the housing ladder as an essential mark of modern adulthood, like losing your virginity or passing your driving test.

It is foolish for the Government to offer equity share to first-time buyers... this looks like mis-selling

For half a century, we experienced the "revolution of rising expectations". That revolution went on for so long that the expectations outreached reality. The revolution of lowering expectations is only just beginning.

Every expectation of intergenerational security on which bourgeois life thrives is blocked"

any shepple who stumble across that article will have a 2 minute summary of everything said on here over the last few years and I'm sure will be left in shock.

[Mega]

After the election & Britan gets its AAA cut (Start of a long slide) it will set in. Today i been running my Mum & Dad around after getting raided on Wedsday morning they lost their car & a few other things. I was shocked by what i saw, every few houses there was a "For sale" or For sale/let" or "To Let"........Mum lived there for 36 years & can NEVER recall ANYTHING like as many.

Mike

[newbonic]

I was just reading that article posted on the main page about personal debt in the country.

http://www.telegraph...t-disaster.html

Really interesting article. I got half way through and was struck by this line:

"It is not certain that the house-price gamble any longer pays of"f.

.......

How will they be able to cope...

There have been some mainstream press articles suggesting that housing speculation isn't a one way ticket to riches, e.g. from the Times 15 months ago:

Why househunters need not hurry

There were some very bearish readers comment under that article last time I looked, but they seem to have gone now. But yes, I agree that in the main it's been property ramping in the MSM. The Sunday Times property supplement still routinely plugs houses at historically stupid prices.

[erranta]

I was just reading that article posted on the main page about personal debt in the country.

http://www.telegraph...t-disaster.html

Really interesting article. I got half way through and was struck by this line:

"It is not certain that the house-price gamble any longer pays of"f.

WOW. that is the first time I have seen anybody admit that in the main stream (not money week) press.

I think it represents a major turning point. I've been saying for a while that the HPC will be protracted over many years as sentiment turns against the housing market. To see something like this in a major newspaper I think is quite a milestone. It was not even followed up by a BBC style comment about how the cyclical housing market means that prices will eventually rebound.

Over the next few years sheeple up and down the UK will realize that there is no ladder, it was all just lies - a ponzi - and they are going to have to work to earn money to buy the stuff they wont.

How will they be able to cope...

They keep going on about people below 40 having to provide their own pension.

Well if roughly 50% of mortgage payers are on Interest Only AND they have to save for any pension - how will they save to pay their houses off, let alone cope with higher interest rates, paying full whack for any study-career advancement, higher energy bills, taxes etc

Nearly 50% are just RENTERS off the Banks! They will never 'own' their house - that's the trap!

High House Prices in these circumstances = Very big Gamble.

Edited March 27, 2010 by erranta

[South Lorne]

I was just reading that article posted on the main page about personal debt in the country.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/7528524/Budget-2010-We-are-in-danger-of-ignoring-Britains-real-debt-disaster.html

Really interesting article. I got half way through and was struck by this line:

"It is not certain that the house-price gamble any longer pays of"f.

WOW. that is the first time I have seen anybody admit that in the main stream (not money week) press.

I think it represents a major turning point. I've been saying for a while that the HPC will be protracted over many years as sentiment turns against the housing market. To see something like this in a major newspaper I think is quite a milestone. It was not even followed up by a BBC style comment about how the cyclical housing market means that prices will eventually rebound.

Over the next few years sheeple up and down the UK will realize that there is no ladder, it was all just lies - a ponzi - and they are going to have to work to earn money to buy the stuff they wont.

How will they be able to cope...

This is because, as this column has repeated since the credit crunch began, Everything is Different Now. For half a century, we experienced the "revolution of rising expectations". That revolution went on for so long that the expectations outreached reality. The revolution of lowering expectations is only just beginning.

...they will be able to cope when they begin to realise 'to aspire' is not to have a mortgage right now ...not to become a first time buyer .....and certainly not become one of those Interest Only gamblers:

People paying interest-only mortgages are more like tenants than owners. The interest is like the rent. They have somewhere to live, but if they cannot pay each month, they end up with nothing. Such borrowers do not see it that way, though. If they were paying rent, they would not rush round installing new kitchens and carpets. But because they have been led to believe that they are owners, they do. Behind their behaviour is the faith that everything will come out all right in the end. Their house will become more valuable, so they can borrow against it for spending purposes, and when they get older, they can sell it to advantage (and without tax), buy a smaller place, and turn the difference into a pension.

.....

[OnlyMe]

There is a housing ladder, most poeple don't realise they are standing underneath it rather than climbing it.

[South Lorne]

There is a housing ladder, most poeple don't realise they are standing underneath it rather than climbing it.

...yes ...the rungs are broken and the lift is out of order....forget Darling ...he of the Exchequer is only trying to reinflate his master's bubble ....but there are too many holes in it.....

[MrPin]

they are going to have to work to earn money to buy the stuff they wont.

I know what you meant, and we all do typos, but that's the finest oxymoron I've seen in a while!

And it hits the nail right on the head!

[Tiger Woods?]

Nearly 50% are just RENTERS off the Banks! They will never 'own' their house - that's the trap!

No, they aren't renters off the bank; they are something even more dismal. They take most of the capital risk as well as paying well over market rent for the pleasure. I read somewhere a couple of days ago that 43% of UK mortgages are IO. I'm not sure I believe the figure, for if it is even approximately true the UK population is scr*wed.

I wouldn't mind that others are so stupid, but they have a direct impact on those of us who don't want to pay 8 to 10x median wage for a 2.5 bedroom box on an 80s estate.

[olliegog]

the thing is - these overpriced houses for which they are taking out HUGE mortgages - a few years down the line who will buy them at that price. Bank of mum and dad can only help a few, cash buyers will be settled in their 'forever' home, and the property ladder wannabees will be left with a huge millstone around their necks which will take a lifetime of earning money to pay off (unless of course hyperinflation takes off and their wages accelerate an Zimbabwean rates)

[Mr Yogi]

A good piece, with which I can find little to disagree. The stand-out line;

For half a century, we experienced the "revolution of rising expectations". That revolution went on for so long that the expectations outreached reality. The revolution of lowering expectations is only just beginning.

History will record the rising general 'prosperity' of the post-war year years as a blip - a momentary deviation from the norm. It will also be revealed to have been largely an illusion.

The era of consumerism is over; we will all have to adapt to a simpler and cheaper way of life without the frills to which we have become accustomed.

Everything is different now. No bad thing either, if you ask me.

[Ben from Dover]

Haha.

Have you notices how many hits my threads get?

And it is not just because I commonly follow up, adding more info to an initial post

Didn't mean it as a criticism Dr. I'm a big fan and your threads / comments are some of the best on here. I even quite often follow your "links" to "elsewhere".