And so it begins 2

[NoddY]

We are so blessed to have a wonderful chancellor that allows such wealthy people to live here without paying a red cent of tax. Truely blessed.

Stamp duty has had its day - an obsolete tax that should have gone out with the monarchy. Unfortunately the army is too well equiped now for us to have a revolution. But considering most of it is abroad.......

Just think of all the shoe-shine boys benefiting form the 'trickle-down' effect (remember that?).

[lilelvis2000]

Sadly, although inflation is at least 4% (probably nearer 6% if the truth were ever told), peoples pay is not going up anywhere near that.

So in real terms, the erosion of peoples earnings makes house prices look even more unaffordable.

Luckily, the Non-Domicile brigade (ie. all the rich Russians) are immune to tax rises and don't have to pay stamp duty on buying, so they are laughing.

It's the poor f*ckers born here who are screwed.

We are so blessed to have a wonderful chancellor that allows such wealthy people to live here without paying a red cent of tax. Truely blessed.

Stamp duty has had its day - an obsolete tax that should have gone out with the monarchy. Unfortunately the army is too well equiped now for us to have a revolution. But considering most of it is abroad.......

[RightLaugh]

House Prices Start To Fall In London ?

The FT doesn't think so: FT: London house price rises race away

yes but that was yesterday. today is a different day.

[Buffoon]

House Prices Start To Fall In London ?

The FT doesn't think so: FT: London house price rises race away

[NoddY]

Even in property hotspots, to moves to decrease the value of work further:

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/disp...entPK=17906773

[Clippy]

Sadly, although inflation is at least 4% (probably nearer 6% if the truth were ever told), peoples pay is not going up anywhere near that.

So in real terms, the erosion of peoples earnings makes house prices look even more unaffordable.

Luckily, the Non-Domicile brigade (ie. all the rich Russians) are immune to tax rises and don't have to pay stamp duty on buying, so they are laughing.

It's the poor f*ckers born here who are screwed.

Anyone know (approximately) how much pay has been rising over the last few years?

I thought I heard/read not too long ago that it had risen a fair bit or was that for people at a certain level only (execs and above).

[DimPrawn]

Sadly, although inflation is at least 4% (probably nearer 6% if the truth were ever told), peoples pay is not going up anywhere near that.

So in real terms, the erosion of peoples earnings makes house prices look even more unaffordable.

Luckily, the Non-Domicile brigade (ie. all the rich Russians) are immune to tax rises and don't have to pay stamp duty on buying, so they are laughing.

It's the poor f*ckers born here who are screwed.

[sunnysan]

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/property-...oowftxt0010011

House Prices Start To Fall In London

By Cliff D'Arcy | 9 August 2007
|

Property pundits claim that the UK is currently experiencing a two-tier property market. They admit that that most of the country is experiencing a slowdown, with price falls in some parts of England. But they also say that house-price rises are still strong in London and parts of the South East.

Price rises have been particularly pronounced in upmarket parts of the capital, driven by the vast wealth generated by the City and the very deep pockets of foreign buyers. So, on the surface, everything is hunky dory for London homeowners.

However, if we scratch below the surface, we find that property prices have been falling in certain parts of the capital. Using quarterly data from the Land Registry recording house sales between April and June, here are the cracks that I found. (Note that there can be a considerable time delay before some housing sales are recorded on the Land Registry, so the following figures reflect sales early in the year, rather than in the middle of 2007.)

In the past quarter, house prices have fallen or remained static in the following London boroughs:

All Properties

Borough

Price fall

No. of sales

Camden

-3.6%

756

City of London

-2.8%

56

Kensington and Chelsea

no change

855




Prices have fallen in the millionaires' playground, and recent turmoil in world financial markets suggested that there's more pain to come in the City when those huge annual bonuses are slashed. Also, even in swish K&C -- the richest borough in the entire UK -- house prices failed to rise over this quarter.

Detached Properties

Sales of detached properties are few and far between in London, largely because of a shortage of space to build large family homes. Hence, house-price changes for these premium properties are subject to fluctuations. For example, the Land Registry lists only three detached properties to change hands in Hackney in this quarter. Nevertheless, as you can see, prices for top-end properties have fallen in ten London boroughs for sales recorded at the Land Registry between March and July:

Borough

Price fall

No. of sales

Lewisham

-23.6%

18

Hounslow

-16.5%

29

Hackney

-10.9%

3

Barking and Dagenham

-8.5%

4

Sutton

-7.7%

64

Harrow

-5.9%

76

Richmond upon Thames

-4.2%

73

Hillingdon

-3.2%

136

Brent

-2.1%

40

Haringey

-2.0%

17




Semi-Detached Properties

Again, some of the figures below have been skewed by virtue of only a few sales being recorded. Nevertheless, prices of semi-detached homes have fallen in these seven boroughs:

Borough

Price fall

No. of sales

City of Westminster

-39.9%

5

Tower Hamlets

-32.2%

11

Lambeth

-8.9%

68

Kensington and Chelsea

-5.6%

10

Barking and Dagenham

-3.0%

63

Newham

-2.1%

22

Wandsworth

-0.1%

92




Ignoring the bizarre swings in the City of Westminster and Tower Hamlets, there seem to be clear signs of recent weakness in the property markets of Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, and Barking and Dagenham.

Terraced Properties

Terraced homes are the bread-and-butter business of estate agents, so let's see how they've fared in Q2 2007:

Borough

Price fall

No. of sales

Camden

-25.4%

66

City of Westminster

-6.6%

103

Richmond upon Thames

-2.9%

308




Again, we can safely ignore most of the huge shift in Camden, but the City of Westminster and leafy LBRUT look a little shaky. By the way, it's worth noting that prices of terraced properties have fallen by 1% over the past year in Camden, which may come as a surprise to homeowners in that area.

Flats

When weakness starts appearing in the property ladder, it's usually the lower rungs that begin to crack first. However, the average price of a flat has dropped in just two London boroughs so far:

Borough

Price fall

No. of sales

Greenwich

-2.4%

371

Harrow

-0.7%

327




Summary

Of course, the good news is that historic yearly house-price inflation is still in double digits in most London boroughs. However, after accounting for general inflation (the Retail Prices Index is currently 4.4%) average prices have fallen in real terms over the past year only in Harrow ( up 3.7%) and Hounslow (up 3.8%). Then again, I suspect that the data from our survey suggest that the rises won't continue much longer.

What's more, I'd bet any money that estate agents in Harrow and Hounslow won't be passing on the news of average 'real' (after inflation) falls in their areas to potential sellers and buyers!