Doom gloom and more doom

[scooterscot]

That's all the media seems to talk about. Got me wondering though, are people as pessimistic as the media? Read a local report yesterday, 2000 people in the Edinburgh area were continuing as normal with spending habits. 90% acknowledged tighter times but were not phased by it except for a small few.

Have I missed something? Reading the tabloids you'd think all out Armageddon was upon us.

[Moscow Mule]

That's all the media seems to talk about. Got me wondering though, are people as pessimistic as the media? Read a local report yesterday, 2000 people in the Edinburgh area were continuing as normal with spending habits. 90% acknowledged tighter times but were not phased by it except for a small few.

Have I missed something? Reading the tabloids you'd think all out Armageddon was upon us.

Did they canvas 2000 rich people? I think it's the underclass that are suffering badly...

[scooterscot]

Did they canvas 2000 rich people? I think it's the underclass that are suffering badly...

According to the report many of them were first time buyers, 90% of which were still intent on buying this summer.

[BlasterBates]

We're all doomed....DOOOMED

[HairyArsedBloke]

They are just not bright enough to see how much trouble we are in.

[sunnysan]

Trouble

They are just not bright enough to see how much trouble we are in.

http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/...ousing-british

http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and...ought-property


Some nice articles to further flesh out what HAB has said. IMHO, we are on the cusp of the biggest depression in economic history.

PS. Rather not buy a house now

[Lucy]

Manchester; who would have thought it?

[scooterscot]

I do thinks people who paid out for the new builds might suffer the most. An older house with in a historic location selling for the same price as a new build of the same size a few miles away cannot and never will be the same.

Values will collapse sure enough but in the future they'll also recover just like before, I'm sure of it.

We're all obsessed with living somewhere nice in the ideal location, this ideal will not dry up soon, and this ideal house is not likely to be a shoe box on the 20th floor built by barret, that's for sure.

[the_duderama]

http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/...ousing-british

http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and...ought-property


Some nice articles to further flesh out what HAB has said. IMHO, we are on the cusp of the biggest depression in economic history.

PS. Rather not buy a house now

Excellent article, cuts to the heart of the issue. Intresting that central banks lent money to banks to try and ease the credit crisis - ie use the money for new mortagages etc, but instead they invest it in oil and food, making the situation worse. I'd heard rumblings that a large proportion of the recent comodity prices hikes were due in part to traders investing heavily in that area, but didn't know it was funded (unintentionally) by US government, and that it caused as much as 60% of the increases.

[VectraMan]

I don't think anything is that bad. If we'd had managed sustainable growth in the property market, there would be all this doom. It's only because of the people banking on the property boom as a way of making money without working or being good at anything that we're in the mess we're in.

As somebody who's sat out the property market, it's all good that prices are dropping, but equally it doesn't really affect me. It's only worth getting involved if the prices drop far enough that substantial gains can be had with relative ease. If that doesn't happen I'll just rent: I don't really care. I've never bought into the idea that life is worthless if you don't own a home.