Is the UK property market heading for a bust? - Page 4 - Ajarn Forum

paully · 18th April 2008, 18:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Classic-Chassis

Things up north are still realistic, is you southern cats that are going to feel the pinch my man. Same as last time.

Don't kid yourself - house prices in both north and south have been highly overvalued and are heading for a fall. Mortgages country-wide are becoming more difficult and expensive to obtain.

Classic-Chassis · 18th April 2008, 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by esoteric1

How does this work?

You just call them up and say "I want to stop paying my mortgate for up to 6 months please."
They press a button and it's done. Any interest you would've paid over the "holiday" is put on top of the mortgage.
Good old C&G.

LDMA · 18th April 2008, 19:02

I'm waiting 2-3 years to be honest....you'd have to be mad to buy now.

Classic-Chassis · 18th April 2008, 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by paully

Don't kid yourself - house prices in both north and south have been highly overvalued and are heading for a fall. Mortgages country-wide are becoming more difficult and expensive to obtain.

IT DEPENDS EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!
BBC NEWS | Business | First-time buyer survey region-by-region
Of course 2 bed flats in converted mills in city centers being sold for a 1/4 of a million pounds are going to drop sharply. Normal houses in normal streets in normal areas will not drop so much.
To say "It's all going to fall down nation wide!" is nonsense, Mortgages are becoming difficult to get for first time buyers or people with low equity. up to 250% up in some places, it can affored to drop 15% to 20% over 2 years.
Mortgage crashes do not happen without high unemployment and high interest rates, neither of which are even remotely on the cards for the UK, even today the money markets are up, even though shares in banks are down.
Just read a bit or please present some evidence to support your claim before you post nostradormic views of the future.
-----

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDMA

I'm waiting 2-3 years to be honest....you'd have to be mad to buy now.

I wouldn't wait that long, i'd be looking now and watching prices with a keen eye. The moment they stop or even show signs of going up, (.25% over 2 months) i'd be on the phone putting low bids on several places.
I don't believe it will last louis, banks have just short changed themselves .

esoteric1 · 18th April 2008, 19:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Classic-Chassis

You just call them up and say "I want to stop paying my mortgate for up to 6 months please."

Thanks CC, I've never heard of an option like that here. Although I have heard of being able to forgo 1 months payment in the December/January(because of Christmas time gift buying) time frame.

I'd imagine in the end though 6 months of ' payment holiday' ends up being pretty expensive with the added interest.

Classic-Chassis · 18th April 2008, 19:31

^ it depends when in your term you take it, but yes it will always be a good payer for the lender.
Any extra is spread over your remaining term though so you don't really see it, if you're in a position like Nick is then it's a God send.

esoteric1 · 18th April 2008, 19:33

^do all lenders do that in the UK or just C&G?

Jon · 18th April 2008, 19:59

No, any lender can do it. Some are probably more willing than others. Any lender can do what any other lender does. I've been making overpayments on mine rather than add to savings.
I don't think I would buy right now, but I would be saving like mad to get as big a deposit as possible for when I made the move.

Classic-Chassis · 19th April 2008, 19:10

just to give you an idea how topsy tervy things are in the north west

BBC NEWS | In Depth | UK House Prices | Blackpool

says it all TBH last 1/4 prices went up in my home town!
put your post code in the link and see how your area is doing.

esoteric1 · 19th April 2008, 23:15

Britain Said to Consider Shoring Up Debt Market
http://tinyurl.com/48bvtd

Quote:

By JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: April 18, 2008

LONDON —The Bank of England and the British government are considering actions that would mirror steps taken by the United States Federal Reserve to restore liquidity to the money markets by taking over mortgage-backed assets from banks.

Details are still being decided for the plan, which would offer government-backed bonds in exchange for securities backed by British mortgages, said a person with direct knowledge of the discussions, who declined to be identified before the plan was made public. The plan could be announced as early as next week, the person said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the Exchequer, have come under increasing pressure to act, as banks’ continued reluctance to lend adds to woes in the British housing and consumer markets. Banks are unwilling to lend even to each other because they do not trust the value of their mortgage-backed assets at a time of falling property prices in Britain.

“This would definitely help,” said Jane Coffey, head of global equities at Royal London Asset Management. “It won’t be the cure for all ills as they still face a lot of challenges with the housing market, and we’ll see falling earnings in the banking sector for the next two years, but we need to see more action because just cutting base rates won’t be enough.”

The difference between the central bank’s benchmark interest rate and the cost of borrowing pounds has increased for three months as lenders hold onto their money.
Some economists said that the housing market was the biggest worry for the British economy at the moment. House prices dropped 2.5 percent in March from a month earlier, according to the largest British mortgage lender, HBOS, and there are signs that the decline is weighing on consumer spending.

To ease pressure on lenders, which have also started to reduce credit limits for clients, the central bank has already injected about £50 billion ($99 billion) of cash into the markets. In March, the United States Federal Reserve for the first time offered lenders the opportunity to exchange debt, including mortgage-backed securities, for Treasury securities.

The European Central Bank has no intention of offering banks a similar exchange, the central bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said Thursday. The European bank has not lowered rates, continuing to focus on fighting inflation even though Europe’s economy has also recently started to show signs of weakening.

But the European bank has always had a policy of accepting some asset-backed securities as collateral, because it adopted such rules from the central banks that preceded it before the euro was created in 1999. The proportion of collateral of this type on deposit has risen since financial market turbulence last August, but Mr. Trichet has said that the bank is not worried that some of it might be declining in value.

Help by the Bank of England to ease pressure on banks will be welcomed by the British Banking Association, which said Thursday in a statement that it was “very supportive of the central bank’s current efforts to increase liquidity in the markets.”

But British taxpayers are already concerned about paying part of the cost of the nationalization of the mortgage lender Northern Rock in February. Mr. Brown, whose reputation for economic competence suffered after trouble at Northern Rock caused a run on the bank, wants to show that any plan to help money markets would protect taxpayers and not be an easy way for banks to get rid of worthless mortgage assets.

Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York and Carter Dougherty from Frankfurt.

there don't you feel better now? The govt is there to help(the banksters) with your tax money.

Jon · 21st April 2008, 09:44

GB doesn't have a grip on things.

Classic-Chassis · 21st April 2008, 10:58

The BOE are stepping in to help, with 50Bn of government bonds.
BBC NEWS | Business | Bank to detail £50bn bonds plan
It is strange how all this happens in the U.S just as the government is about to change hands. The next president is going to look good. Not like that in the uk though ,prime ministers usually hide shit for the next person to find. GB has no excuses though because he was COE.

esoteric1 · 21st April 2008, 18:37

^

Quote:

Under the scheme, banks will be allowed to swap their "high quality" mortgage debts for government securities.

If they're "high quality" what's the problem?

Classic-Chassis · 21st April 2008, 22:41

Gov bonds are safer so other overseas banks would prefer to lend against them instead of equity in mortgages. doesn't make much sense to me but i know the BOE is usually not too keen to step in to help lenders out so it's a move out of the ordinary and for the better.

paully · 21st April 2008, 23:30