Twopper

I am in a bit of a quandary and wouldn't mind hearing the thoughts of a few of the clever people on this site.

I currently live (with wife and kids) in a small inherited flat, too small for the family but a nice safety net. We are trying to buy a larger property (yes I know its a bad time to be doing this but we are far too cramped) and we have sale agreed on the flat for a good price - buyer is a investor/landlord.

But we can't find anywhere to move to (mainly due to the unrealistic prices people are currently marketing their properties at in my local area) and we are now in danger of losing the sale.

The option has been put forward to sell the flat and rent back from LL. I really don't know if this is a good idea, where would I put the cash and am I wise to let go of my families safety net in these uncertain times?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Can anyone offer a bit of advice to a total novice.

I have enjoyed holding my gold but need to sell now (mainly Krugs and a couple of Pandas) can anyone advise the best way to sell, who will offer best price and what sort of commission rates I can expect.

I'm going to go and have a look at this tomorrow

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sa...y-32403734.html

Only just come on the market but straight away it's for sale by informal tender.

Seen local properties go IT after a long time on the market but not straight away.

Has anybody got any thoughts on what they hope to achieve by this?

It takes a bit of Digging. I am sure these barriers are intentional (protecting their "spin")

From here:

http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media1/r...halifax_hpi.asp

You can get to here:

http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/ex...istoricdata.xls

Results:

(I have to open the XLS file on another computer)

So the AllMon(NSA) is a staggering -2.4% seasonally adjusted to +0.8%

AMAZING!

Halifax data out today

http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/pd...January2011.pdf

Does anybody know where the NSA figures can be found?

Unlikely.

I think it will be late 2012 or 2013 or later before you see the sort of drop that you want.

 

I still think a 0.50-1.00% per month drop is a realistic expectation.

O.5% it is....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economi...h-in-a-row.html

The average cost of a home in England and Wales dropped by 0.5pc this month to stand at £153,600 - 2.2pc less than in January 2010, according to housing intelligence firm Hometrack.

Merv finally admits UK is Donald Ducked.

No interset rates increases

No pretence of even trying to control inflation infact the complete opposite

No chance of borrowing

No help for savers

Happy new year to all of us in the UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economi...ince-1920s.html

Bank of England chief Mervyn King: standard of living to plunge at fastest rate since 1920s <H2>Households face the most dramatic squeeze in living standards since the 1920s, the Governor of the Bank of England warned, as he reacted to the shock disclosure that the economy was shrinking again.

 

Families will see their disposable income eaten up as they "pay the inevitable price" for the financial crisis, Mervyn King warned.

 

With wages failing to keep pace with rising inflation, workers' take- home pay will end the year worth the same as in 2005 — the most prolonged fall in living standards for more than 80 years, he claimed.

 

Mr King issued the warning in a speech in Newcastle upon Tyne after official figures showed that gross domestic product fell by 0.5 per cent during the final three months last year. The Government blamed the unexpected reduction — the first since the third quarter of 2009 — on the freezing weather that paralysed much of the country last month.

 

But there were fears that the country was poised to slip back into recession, defined as two successive quarters of negative growth. Economists said the situation was "an absolute disaster".

 

Labour accused ministers of jeopardising recovery by pushing ahead with public spending cuts too quickly.

 

 

Mr King said he was unable to offer any imminent hope of a rise in interest rates in coming months because of the poor economic outlook. Savers and "those who behaved prudently" would be among the biggest losers in the squeeze, he admitted.

 

Disposable household income has been hit by sharp increases in the cost of food, fuel and tax, coupled with restricted wage rises for most workers. Last year, take-home pay fell by about 12 per cent, official figures showed, and the trend was expected to continue in 2011.

 

The governor warned that the Bank "neither can, nor should try to, prevent the squeeze in living standards".

 

He said that the economic figures were a reminder that the recovery will be "choppy". However, he said the biggest threat facing the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, which sets interest rates, was rising inflation.

 

The Bank is expected to use interest rates to keep inflation below two per cent, but the governor said inflation could rise "to somewhere between four per cent and five per cent over the next few months".

 

He claimed that rising inflation had been caused largely by increases in global oil and commodity prices, and tax rises such as the increase in VAT introduced at the beginning of the year, which the Bank was powerless to control.

 

"In 2011, real wages are likely to be no higher than they were in 2005," he said. "One has to go back to the 1920s to find a time when real wages fell over a period of six years.

 

"The squeeze on living standards is the inevitable price to pay for the financial crisis and subsequent rebalancing of the world and UK economies."

 

Mr King insisted that the Monetary Policy Committee could not have increased interest rates from their current record low level to tackle the rise in inflation.

 

"If the MPC had raised the Bank Rate significantly, inflation might well have started to fall back this year, but only because the recovery would have been slower, unemployment higher and average earnings rising even more slowly than now," he said.

 

"The erosion of living standards would have been even greater. The idea that the MPC could have preserved living standards, by preventing the rise in inflation without also pushing down earnings growth further, is wishful thinking."

 

He added: "Monetary policy cannot be based on wishful thinking. So, unpleasant though it is, the Monetary Policy Committee neither can, nor should try to, prevent the squeeze in living standards, half of which is coming in the form of higher prices and half in earnings rising at a rate lower than normal."

 

"The Bank of England cannot prevent the squeeze on real take-home pay that so many families are now beginning to realise is the legacy of the banking crisis and the need to rebalance our economy."

 

The comments represented one of the governor's starkest warnings yet. His claim that the banking crisis was behind the ongoing squeeze on living standards comes at a sensitive time, as banks prepare to announce multi-million pound bonuses for their executives.

 

Mr King expressed sympathy for savers and highlighted the failure of lenders to pass on cuts in interest rates. "I sympathise completely with savers and those who behaved prudently now find themselves among the biggest losers from this crisis," he said. "But a return to economic stability from our fragile condition will require careful and well-judged steps looking beyond the next few months."

 

Addressing the problems of borrowers, he added: "Households and small businesses with little housing equity may be unable to borrow at all or are able to borrow only in the unsecured market – where rates are much higher than before the crisis."

</H2>

Dip, dippery.

Dip, dippery.

Dip, dip, de-roo.

A double-dip is coming.

and it's good for you !

Will you sing that next podcast and is your cockney accent every bit as good as Dick Van Dykes?

Couple of news stories today

http://www.cih.org/news/view.php?id=1346

Deposits hit 40-year high as 100,000 first-time buyers kept off property ladder

 

At least 100,000 first-time buyers who have no help from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ were unable to enter the housing market last year, as the number of low deposit mortgages slumped to a record low.

 

In 2009 there were only 28,000 loans to first-time buyers at 90 per cent or more - where buyers had to find a 10 per cent deposit or less - down from 245,000 in 2006¹. And numbers of younger first-time buyers able to buy a home without help with a deposit fell by 100,000 per year between 2006 and 2009².

 

The UK Housing Review published by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has been collating and analysing UK housing market data for nearly twenty years, tracking market trends over decades. The new edition, published on 21 January, highlights the jump in the size of deposit needed to get on the housing ladder. First-time buyers needed a 30 per cent deposit on average in 2009 in order to purchase a home, higher than at any time since 1970³. According to co-author Professor Steve Wilcox this makes the collapse in the availability of low-deposit mortgages the largest single barrier to home ownership.

 

Richard Capie, CIH Deputy Chief Executive, said: “Deposits are now at a 40 year high and prospects for first time buyers look bleak. The deposit barrier has become a mountain that more and more potential home owners simply can’t climb without help from mum and dad. While we don’t want to return to the days of 110% mortgages and irresponsible lending, it is clear that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. This report shows that more work needs to be done to set out new rules which will enable responsible lending to households who can afford to sustain a mortgage. It also shows that we need to make sure that other tenures, such as the private rented sector, provide a better alternative for the increasing numbers of people who will simply be unable to buy a home in future.”

AND

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-21/u...et-weakens.html

U.K. Mortgage Approvals Decline to 21-Month Low as Housing Market Weakens

 

U.K. mortgage approvals fell to the lowest level since March 2009 last month as the housing market weakened amid the prospect of the government’s fiscal squeeze.

 

The number of home loans fell to 40,000 from 45,000 in November, the Bank of England said today in London, based on data from six banks. The value of loans fell to 8.9 billion pounds ($14.2 billion), with net lending dropping to 800 million pounds, the lowest since records began in January 2009.

 

Recent data have shown a mixed picture of the U.K. housing market as the prospect of the biggest government budget squeeze since World War II and tight lending conditions hurt demand. Mortgage approvals are at less than half the level seen at the peak of the market in 2007.

 

“Major U.K. lenders reported that housing market activity remained subdued, partly reflecting a weakening of house prices and potential impacts on incomes from fiscal consolidation,” the central bank said in a quarterly report. “The major U.K. lenders expected both housing market activity and gross lending for house purchase to be broadly flat in 2011.”

 

A U.K. housing-market gauge stayed close to an 18-month low in December as cold weather saw demand for homes wane and fewer people put their properties on the market, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said on Jan. 18. Hometrack Ltd. said on Jan. 12 banks won’t increase mortgage lending this year as tougher regulation and a lack of funds curb access to credit.

 

The Bank of England held its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent this month and its bond-purchase program at 200 billion pounds as policy makers assessed signs the economic recovery is slowing.

 

Subdued Demand

 

The mortgage-approvals data published today is based on reports from Banco Santander SA, Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Nationwide Building Society and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

 

The Bank of England said the stock the loans to U.K. businesses fell in the three months through November, and net consumer credit turned negative at the end of the period.

 

Competition put downward pressure on mortgage prices, while overall demand for credit from business and households remained subdued in the fourth quarter, the central bank said.

The pressure increases

Some from Taisei coins, Fujimint, World coins, some from US and others from CID. In UK I like Chards and sometimes Bairds and ATS.

Basically I am not too fussy where they come from. There are plenty of old US coin dealers in Japan thanks to Okinawa ,I guess. None of the Japanese places have websites in English and the dealers speak only Japanese and will introduce you to others when they get to know you. Are you in Japan?

In UK - I just want a bit of physical silver as well as buying some in Bullionvault. I will probably go for eagles just because I like them.

Well for better or for worse I just got a nice roll of silver eagles. And some 2010 pandas and harmonicas.

Gather ye rosebuds and all that...

Where do you buy your silver coins from?