Doom and gloom

[TimberWolf]

Agreed again. But that's my point - it's not the HIPs that caused all this, if market was a buyoant as in 2006 then this extra £500 would not matter.

Yes, agreed.

As for market prices then I think you may find that any seller can sell at market price pretty easily - problem is that sellers want to sell at some peak market price that is in the past, yet they want it now.

Yes, sellers want to sell at the peak if possible, just as buyers want to buy as low as possible. We all want a good deal and I don't have a problem with that. We're not quite singing from the same song sheet here, but close enough

Before I sign off I spotted a possible source of misunderstanding. I took it as red that the HIP was purchased long before a buyer was found. Of course it’s not good to renege on a deal because of a HIP. I’m referring to the cost of a HIP when, or long before, a house is put to market, with no buyers in sight (and in today’s market possibly never to be found without major drops in the asking prices). I assume this is how it works. Anyway enough already.

[Squatch]

HIPs make no difference. We are in a recession which will last for at least another 2 years. Expect another 15%+ drop in prices. Cash is king. Put your money in ING Direct or precious metals because stocks will collapse.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Oi - Buck Up Mate

I dont believe what I read in the Papers
Exagerrating This - Exagerrating That -
They never have a good time
So lets - Have a Good Time


Many years ago we had a family friend of Lithuanian Jewish descent who had picked up a smattering of idiomatic English expressions.

One of these was “buck up”.


Looking at much of the comment on the credit crunch, I feel like saying that myself.

Surely we know by now that market economies do not move in a straight line but are subject to periodic setbacks of varying strength.

The late Christopher Dow in his mammoth study, Major Recessions, defined these as occasions when gross domestic product showed a clear absolute fall between one year and the next. The UK has experienced five of these since 1920: 1920-21, 1929-32, 1973-75, 1979-82 and 1989-93.

Output fell in these by a cumulative 10 per cent relative to trend. Allowing for the subsequent recovery periods, the net effect was to reduce trend growth from 3 to 2 per cent a year.

Not a pretty story, yet hardly enough to justify many wishful-thinking commentators claiming each time that the final crisis of capitalism is at last upon us.

What is more irritating is the way members of the financial elite also like to bathe in pessimism and say to each other: “The crisis is worse than you think” and then speculate on which will be the next enterprise to succumb. Other misleading clichés uttered at such times are “the old rules no longer apply” and “traditional remedies no longer work”.

S Brittan FT Online

[DimPrawn]

Other misleading clichés uttered at such times are “the old rules no longer apply” and “traditional remedies no longer work”.

S Brittan FT Online

"It's different this time."

[rootsnall]

Some interesting stuff on Radio4 this morning from some fairly level headed types in a debate about economic forecasting. Summary was all forecasts are basically bulltulip as there are so many unknowns.

They also said as it stands the UK economy isn't really showing any signs of distress ( the IT job market confirms this at the moment ) so we shouldn't panic and start slashing interest rates and possibly induce bigger inflation problems.

In the US the Fed is run by investment bankers and it is the investment banks who are in deep tulip and they are taking panic measures to protect their own. The wider economy and the general public are secondary in these decisions.

[BrilloPad]

Some interesting stuff on Radio4 this morning from some fairly level headed types in a debate about economic forecasting. Summary was all forecasts are basically bulltulip as there are so many unknowns.

They also said as it stands the UK economy isn't really showing any signs of distress ( the IT job market confirms this at the moment ) so we shouldn't panic and start slashing interest rates and possibly induce bigger inflation problems.

In the US the Fed is run by investment bankers and it is the investment banks who are in deep tulip and they are taking panic measures to protect their own. The wider economy and the general public are secondary in these decisions.

the banks always get money out of the proletariat one way or the other. e.g. any interest cuts would be unlikely to be passed on. so eventually the wider economy will be affected.

add in rising oil and food prices.

[Squatch]

My god!!!!

It's so frightening!

Soon My houses will be worth less than I paid for them

Like yeh!

Where in the UK are houses likely to be worth less than they were ten years ago ?
House prices/values do not fall, the annual increase in value may slow or fall, but the value of Land/property has been rising since the dark ages. The only way that the values could fall is if the population and therefore the demand for housing decreases to a stage where there are more properties than people.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...ef=patrick.net

US house prices are already down an average 7.7% over 1 year with Merrill Lynch calling for another 30% drop over the next 3 years. So 37% + 13% inflation over that time period = a total loss of 50%. Good luck.