Plastic Elastic

I'm sure with that sort of predictive powers you'll be more than welcome on the Fringe Forum

hmmm...

This is a lot about personal choice, and about balancing many factors! Dominic has ridden the gold bull for a long time, and he's now getting much more house per ounce than he would have got a few years ago. Is he getting out at the top? Probably not! Has he made a decent profit (in terms of sq.ft. per ounce)? Probably yes! If he has done his numbers properly and if he finds the right place then he could do worse than buying now! I also agree completely that tenancy laws and culture are a nightmare in the UK. Moving house seven times in ten years sounds awful and is also quite a stretch on resources (contacting agents, visiting properties, moving, paperwork etc.) - I can think of a million things more valuable to spend my time on...

What I forgot is the demographic issue. Some (but not all) rural areas in Germany (not only the East) are experiencing a rapidly shrinking population. There was an article in Der Spiegel a few months ago on this. It also seems very difficult to attract doctors to rural areas. Again, choosing wisely location-wise might be the difficult bit here.

I heard anecdotal evidence that Greeks were buying lots of properties in Hamburg but it could be that somebody was having me on I also feel that German people are getting concerned about inflation, and, thus, are herding into property, and, as you say, it might not be the wisest step in all cases. Firstly, Germany will not be spared from all the outfall from the PIIGs desaster, thus rents and tenants may and probably will become less reliable. Secondly, German property is likely to become a prime target of financial repression - I think they will simply raise taxes and all sorts of other legal hurdles (environmental legislation etc.) by a lot. We are seeing that already. Thirdly, you are "immobile", as the German term implies. Of course, a lot of these arguments may not apply if you looked for a property to live in but if you look towards renting out you better choose wisely and in a good location I think. I wouldn't be very keen to sell any gold for a property at this point.

Thanks, this one is new to me! Apparently, the index encompasses around 10% of all property transactions in Germany.

GF, I only found this one. I know there are others as well but I can't find anything at the moment. Edit: I guess this isn't based on, say, investing a UK mortgage into German property either. Even so, there is definitely some flow of foreign money in German property. Also, there were also American REITs that bought up former public property in Dresden, for example. I read about this a few years back, well before the crisis hit. A foreign investor may also buy shares of TAG Immobilien, for example, and related shares. Whether all this is enough to have a serious impact on prices I do not know. Plus, as you are well aware, there aren't really any house price indices in Germany.

That is a very interesting piece of information I was actually not aware of, so many thanks for that! Are these the dates you are looking at? It appears that they are not concurrent with stock option expiry dates. CME gold options expiry dates

Playing devil's advocate here Gold measured in S&P 500 just bounced off a resistance line.

Dave Morgan did. So did Bob Moriarty (321gold). They have certainly risen in my estimation by doing so. On the other hand I'd like to point out that it seems a bit strange to me when you label certain things as 'cultish', given the threads you post on various conspiracies and New Age ideas.

I think there are a number of investment vehicles that were created to enable British people to buy German property. I'll have a look and see if I can find some information. That's probably not what you meant though, GF.

Well spotted! That's just another piece in the puzzle of sophisticated disinformation, probably spread by the Illuminati.

This is precisely the problem with all these 'Port Out, Starboard Home' people

One could argue he'd be nearly 123 years of age by now. Then again, don't they say a cat has seven lives?

IF the price is really going to be at $2500 in September (let's face it: nobody knows) then you will likely have sold into a rising trend, and you're average selling price will be between $2500 and what it is now. Not exactly the top but not bad either I'd say. I fully agree.