John Doe

Great idea I can't believe that some of the "new" universities are planning to charge full fees. Still, if you cut their funding by so much, then I guess it’s s**t or bust for some.

Halifax up 0.1% BUT YOY down 2.9%

What a horrible thought (You haven't met my family ) But I guess people here people want their independence, whatever the cost. I know I do. Just another cultural difference I guess. In theory, the demand is coming from those who are not buying instead.

Meanwhile, rental demand keeps increasing massively, with landlords cashing in (Although, competition is coming in the BTL business as could soon be taken over by the big boys). http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Landlords-benefitting-yahoofinanceuk-3494099014.html The game is rigged.

Nice I didn't even know you could do this. I might do it myself next time (Mother was originally from Tipperary).

Saying that, it appears the EU is now going to insist on a property tax in Eire. Coming in soon and to rise quickly once in place. Might hold on for a bit, not sure if it would apply to land ownership (with planning). Oh, and everywhere will probably end up a cheap retirement spot for wealthy Chinese one day

True, but they all fiddle their figures so it's probably a fair comparison. Have friends in Wexford, luckily they are mortgage free, but they said there is no work, no hope of work and everyone is talking of leaving. (Young and old). You can pick up a 5 acre plot with permission for a big 5 bed house with sea views for under 30k Euro now! Maybe even cheaper if they are to be auctioned off. (Tempted to get one now in case I retire early and make it into a small holding.)

Will become? I think many are already there. A lot of these areas have been c**p since Thatcher. They won't notice much difference. The fringe areas probably will though (where the trickle down had some effect and the EA's and coffee shops moved in, these are now closing).

Perhaps not. UK is not Eire, never was. They took the madness of the UK and multiplied it tenfold, and built more houses than they had people. The crazy NIMBY attitude and planning system in UK meant this never happened here. They are a small country with a debt per capita (& deficit) that makes UK look like a model of prudence. The two cannot be compared. UK £875B = £14.5k per person US £21k per person Eire £127B, or £31k per person

Only a small beginning unfortunately, many of the proposals don't come into effect for a year or two yet (April 2013 for some). There is a good round up on the BBC ("in graphics" tab, 12 cuts on 12 pages) that outlines the saving, the dates and the number affected. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12906528

Oh but I do, all the time (and I think you are well aware of this). LR Home.co.uk and Acadametrics are the best by far. (Except for the lag) I also follow closely several local markets of interest and believe I always put a balanced argument based on the data. Sometimes the data doesn't match what we want. Many people choose the bits they want to. HPC and SP are classic examples of this.

But prices are up on a 12 month horizon, (and have risen 3 out of the last 4 months). So the data can be reported however you like, but sometimes you just have to admit that the UK is weird. (Also note the NSA figure, quite a revision downwards ) Pause or perhaps something more? Your builders index is showing a soft landing is it not? Of course, in real terms we will still get the ~10% down expected.

Nationwide up 0.5% (NSA up 2.2%!). Crash cruise speed cancelled. Never underestimate the UK public.

Wouldn't count on them having a huge effect until you get up to the 5% mark, especially after reading a thread on HPC the other day with a graph of the 5 year fixed rate vs the BoE rate.

Bellway on the up too. Spring bounce?? http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Housebuilder-Bellway-sees-reuters_molt-4270721141.html?x=0

Yep, number of occupants should also be taken into account as the same argument could apply in an even worse case, where it's an old lady (about 70) living in the poxy little flat and ten living in the mansion (with obviously more room(s) each, and better neighbours).

I have never understood why the council tax for a multi-million pound property in a lovely area is at most only about two or three times that charged for a poxy little flat in a crap area. The old rates system was far fairer. I liked Harrisons land tax idea too, take away the income tax and replace with land tax. Don't know if it could work in reality though, it would probably need a revolution.

People in glass houses colonel Land Reg reading -1.7% YOY for whole of uk.. http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/House-prices-fall-0-8-percent-reuters_molt-1199765916.html?x=0 Remembering the lag with land registry (3 or 4 months?)

Agree on most, but if the institutional investors buy up these places to rent them out, doesn't that put upward pressure on those remaining for sale to private individuals (less supply etc)? Could put downward pressure on rents though, unless they create a cartel.

Good point.

First time buyer help. MIS extended. Watering down of FSA MMR proposals http://www.ftadviser.com/FTAdviser/Mortgages/News/article/20110323/3c4f3488-5530-11e0-afcb-00144f2af8e8/FSA-waters-down-MMR-proposals.jsp I would assume that they were concerned that the falls might accelerate.

Budget day today. Let's see what the poor home owners (mortgaged masses) get handed out. Heard there might be some sweetners given?

He has been right for more than the last 20 years. However, to be fair he is talking about better areas in the SE mainly. More akin to the "many market" theory, and he is picking the best examples. The Zoopla reading is a little strange, ie the falls (which it looks like they think will continue for a while yet) "creating buying opportunities".

The "prophet of property", Tony Pidgley, the chairman of Berkeley is looking at continuing improvement in the market. Investors like Berkeley’s upbeat forecast. "Happy Days for the Housing Market" http://www.fool.co.uk/news/investing/company-comment/2011/03/18/happy-days-for-the-housing-market.aspx

Yes, as has been pointed out several times, there is not a single market here in the UK (or probably anywhere). Different types of housing and different areas are behaving differently. The only time that there appeared to be a uniform movement was during the credit crunch when even the London properties fell in line (practically) with the rest of the country. This could happen again, but it would need a massive spike up in IR's. Until then, the nice areas and nice houses will fair far better than the rest. It's the small pokey new flats in the not-so-nice areas will likely suffer most.