It's on a par with those suggesting that a significant fall in house prices caused by a lack of available credit will enable people who couldn't buy houses before to buy them now and so is 'beneficial'...
House prices..
- Thread starter fendi
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It's on a par with those suggesting that a significant fall in house prices caused by a lack of available credit will enable people who couldn't buy houses before to buy them now and so is 'beneficial'...
I cba to read all 47 pages but have a few questions
Are many other banks/lenders being hit like northern rock?
Has there been any improvement?
How much worse could it get?
Its big news and on tv for a week then it dies out of the press and I dont look into it. Unfortunately for me I work in a sector thats a luxury item so will get hit badly if things go **** up.
Are many other banks/lenders being hit like northern rock?
Has there been any improvement?
How much worse could it get?
Its big news and on tv for a week then it dies out of the press and I dont look into it. Unfortunately for me I work in a sector thats a luxury item so will get hit badly if things go **** up.
If you honestly did know about it 18 mths ago and was certain it would happen I bet you have made a packet by shorting the stocks that were going to be hit hard.
Soldato
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The return to historically stable lending methods, requiring significant deposits, will make sure only people who can afford to buy property do so. In the last three or four years (at least) banks have been increasingly lending to people who had no track record of saving and budgeting. Without those skills almost anyone will struggle and fail as a property owner.
Tougher lending and therefore falling house prices mark a return to sanity. We're not there yet though. Not by a long shot. The next big wave to hit will probably be credit card defaults, as people can no longer re-mortgage to finance their over-extended lifestyle. That'll send another big shock through the lending system.
Andrew McP
Soldato
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If you're talking about granite kitchen surfaces, then you're in trouble. If you're talking Ferraris, you'll probably be fine. The rich can always spend, no matter what's going on in the wider economy. In fact the rich are usually rich because they know all about economic cycles, profiting on the way up, and the way down.
All the economic signposts are now pointing so far down they have penguins on them. So mainstream 'luxury-ish' spending -- dependent on people living right up to the edge, and beyond, their financial comfort zone -- will probably fall off a cliff any day now due to a combination of necessity and caution.
Andrew McP
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7430815.stm
Another drop in approved mortgages, lowest figures since reports started in '93.
Doesn't look good for all those estate agents!
Another drop in approved mortgages, lowest figures since reports started in '93.
Doesn't look good for all those estate agents!
Soldato
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Shorting is a very brave or very rich man's game. Antics by central banks and big institutions can easily leave little guys floundering in bankruptcy if they're not careful.
The writing was always on the wall for the credit-based economies of the USA and UK, but the wall kept being pushed further back as the banks and institutions conspired to keep themselves afloat on a wave of self-generated, infinitely expanding debt. That meant there were a lot of false dawns for the bears, and a lot of people lost a lot of money betting on the end of the Goldilocks years. One or two made a mint though. Timing, as ever, is everything.
Sometimes though being right, and having done your best to help protect the people you care about, is a big enough reward.
Andrew McP
Soldato
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Look at the bright side. At least it should put an end to the 5x salary plus, self certified or these ridiculous interest only mortgages. Too many were convinced to overstretch themselves or "miss the boat"
Houses went well beyond affodability and a correction is needed. I just feel bad for those who will lose their homes or be subjected to a decade of negative equity.
Associate
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You assume that people who don't buy can't buy. Plenty of people like me could buy now (after many years of saving & being careful with money) but simply refuse to buy at the top of the biggest housing bubble in history.
I'm quite happy now sitting here watching prices plummet while watching my future mortgage shrinking by £5000 a month, and having my savings interest covering my rent.
shorting is a gambling mans game - i don't gamble. As somebody said above its easy for the little man to end up bankrupt even knowing the end result.
Associate
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Interest only mortgages aren't ridiculous, if they are taken up in conjunction with an alternative investment vehicle as is supposed to happen.
What is ridiculous though, is the amount of people taking these mortgages on with no other investment vehicles in place, simply because they have borrowed too much in the first place and can't afford any more outgoings.
The pips are really squeaking for these people but even though it will be tragic and result in people losing their homes, it also marks a much overdue return to sanity in the financial lending market.
Can't say I will shed a tear for the Estate Agents. When I was buying a place last year (which subsequently fell through) - they put me through agony and I'm sure they were lying about other offers coming in "thick and fast" - I refused to play the game though and actually had one of them come back to me a few days later saying that the other buyer had "pulled out" strangely enough.
They are the greedy ******** that talked up the market in the first place (and still are) so they deserve what they get IMO.
Associate
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I too feel bad for the people who stretched themselves to the limit, and now see their house / flat is plummeting (sp?) in value but this whole house of cards had to come crashing down eventually.
Far too many people have borrowed far too much money and the cheap credit feast is well and truly over. Now it's time to pay for all these £50,000 kitchens and £30,000 cars and that will be a huge shock for many who could never really afford it in the first place.
Not imo. £30k-ish is guaranteed by the government if a bank or building society goes bust anyway, but there's not much chance of that happening once this £400m cash injection from TPG and the rights issues goes ahead.
I'm quite surprised that a PE company is buying into a bank atm. Shame for all the B&B employees - as usual the little guy pays the price for incompetent management.
Associate
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Probably no need to worry but I recently moved a largish sum from B&B (even though it was less than the £35,000 guarantee limit) and feel glad knowing I've got no funds in there now.
If you look around some people are having trouble getting money out (website crashing etc) but this could be just a technical glitch etc.
So you didn't know then? If you know what the outcome will be it's not a gamble.
Can't say I will shed a tear for the Estate Agents. When I was buying a place last year (which subsequently fell through) - they put me through agony and I'm sure they were lying about other offers coming in "thick and fast" - I refused to play the game though and actually had one of them come back to me a few days later saying that the other buyer had "pulled out" strangely enough.
They are the greedy ******** that talked up the market in the first place (and still are) so they deserve what they get IMO.
of course the vendors have nothing to do with house prices at all
