Hey Property Doomsayers! "House price downturn worst since slump of 1990s, surveyors report"

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here, The Times today

theres no stopping it now

Oh bloody marvelous.

We're putting our house on the market next week!

I know NH, we've been saying haven't we?

where's northutsiresouthsutsire or whatever she's called, she's a prop doomsayer iirc

The market is correcting itself. This is a good thing but imo it won't lead to a major downturn.
A levelling off, yes, a crash, no. It will affect those who need to buy or sell in the next year or two but won't have a huge impact on values over the long term.

I viewed 3 today 2 of which have been on a year!!!!!!!!!I am waiting until the spring bounce doesn't materialise before i buy.Brighton agents still kidding them selves although they have 100s of properties on the books and selling very few.Virtually all mortgages have changed criteria and lenders are expecting bigger deposits and better credit ratings.Surveyors are down valuing and chains are breaking weverywhere I have one agent who is a friend and tells me teh truth and I believe him

Nah Carmenere, HUGE crash, mark my words

exactement nh

I disagree it will be a major downturn A correction is 5-10% and even the bigwig economists are saying it will be harsher

There's several houses still for sale on our estate (ours isn't one of them but our neighbours is). They're just not shifting - some have been on for best part of a year now. The rest of our area is similar.

I suppose it depends on the area.

But truly the level of growth seen in recent years is unsustainable in any sector of the economy.

Surely people realised this, no?

We've been in our house 3 years and it's worth the same now as we paid for it. If we tried to sell now we'd have to accept less. Tbh sometimes I wish we'd stayed in our old place, but it was waay too small!

There's one around here that still hasn't sold.

But I wouldn't buy in this area even if I could.

It's a non-issue, however.

I viewed a lovely maisonette in october 289k Lovely road good condition etc W edecided against it as I didn't want to buy a flat over 250.It is still on but the difference is it is now 235

If it's 40% over valued then yer £500k houses will be worth £300k. Even at 10% it's £450 (www states the bleedin' obvious!)

No EPIS, people thought they'd keep going up and up and up and up with no end, ever.

Property that was over priced when purchased will go into negative equity for a couple of years. Some buyers will lose money but they paid too much initially. So yes those people will 'crash' but it is not going to affect anyone who has bought wisely and not over borrowed.

Why do people not believe that something which has tripled in value for no other reason than the foolish availability of cheap credit can also fall when the money runs out.All bubbles burst and historically this always happens.Levelling off is not going to happen as prices are too high and down is the only way

Seriously? That's VERY foolhardy.

And I nearly failed high-school economics - well, it was second semester senior year and I was going out with this very dishy Austrian skiier bloke so I skived quite a bit .

How can people think they are immune to such things.

It doesn't help when you get all this slanted media reporting about sub-prime lending in other countries trying to take the spotlight off the huge numbers of sub-prime borrowers here.

It isn't much more expensive to borrow money, it's just coming back more in line with what is a reasonable amount to lend a non-incorporated financial entity, the opposite practice being partially responsible for the record rise in house prices here, anyhow.

you are right expat.It is not up to agents and sellers anymore the banks will dictate this and eventually this will lead to big falls.We are going back to the days of 3-4 times salary and proof of income

And, sadly, 3 or 4 times income just isn;t enough for most people to buy a house because of prices.

When most people can't afford to buy their own house then we're in trouble, I reckon

Because most people will still be largely able to afford the credit when it becomes more expensive. there will be an over supply of certain types of property. Badly conceived new developments in areas with few amenities will lose their value (apartments in Leeds spring to mind). Well placed, decent properties will retain an essential value, with modest growth in popular areas.

Loads of houses are being reduced in price here. We've been on the market 5 weeks and have had only 3 viewings. Last year we would have sold within days for over the asking price.

do you reckon carmenere? Int rates went up to 15% in the 90s! 15%! So take your mortgage payment and treble it and a lot of people can't cope...