House Price Crash Discussion Thread

John_Pierpoint

[quote=John_Pierpoint;8846411

neverdespairgirl, are you a teeny weeny bit worried about your child's education ?[/quote]

Slapped wrist accepted.:o

Mind you the ripple effect always starts amongst the "chattering classes" somewhere to the West of the Greenwich meridian? So perhaps we should have a ghetto thread called "I cannot sell my house" or "Why are all my viewing from time wasters" or "Help stuck in a chain", but only open to residents living within 30 miles to the West of Greenwich?

John

Have I started noticing these threads gathering momentum?.

nobblyned

Mr._H wrote: »

The thing is that the average is heavily skewed by the super-high salaries at the top end. Yes, it is true that the average salary in inner London is £48,662 (well above £39,000), but the median is £31,509, 60% earn less than £36,229, and 70% earn less than £42,792 (table here).

You were quoting full time salaries before, so I replied in the same vein, I see you are now including part-time workers, presumably just so you could disagree with my figures.

Mr._H wrote: »

And, again, what seems to have gone over your head is that living in London is a choice. London is one of the most expensive cities on earth, and just because someone living there earning £39,000 is "only" earning more than approximately 65% of the population of London, doesn't stop them from being well-off. They are well-off because they can afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on earth and still earn more than 65% of its inhabitants.

This argument started because someone suggested that the upper-rate tax band (which starts around £39,000) should be raised by £10,000. Given the examples in this thread that show how "hard" it is to live in London for £39,000, how do you think the 65% of Londoners earning less than that manage to do it? Isn't it deeply insulting to their situation to suggest that it should be the 45% best-off individuals who should get a tax break, rather than, let's say, the 20% of people in London earning less than £18,441?

And quite why when considering a tax break for any section of society we should focus purely on London to try and justify it, is beyond me.

I made no comment on tax, merely your assertion that a wage of £39k is 'huge' or the comment of another poster that you would be rich at this level. In London it is below average, and in the whole of the country it would put you only in the top 1/5th - 1/6th of full time earners

FWIW, the only thing to have gone over my head at this juncture is your pomposity.

fc123

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Slapped wrist accepted.:o

Mind you the ripple effect always starts amongst the "chattering classes" somewhere to the West of the Greenwich meridian? So perhaps we should have a ghetto thread called "I cannot sell my house" or "Why are all my viewing from time wasters" or "Help stuck in a chain", but only open to residents living within 30 miles to the West of Greenwich?

John

Have I started noticing these threads gathering momentum?.

I wanna ghetto thread:dance: .......then we could have sub-ghetto threads and ghettoist threads....and we can chitter chatter away to our hearts content....whilst our homes plummet in value......or not.

Mr._H_2

nobblyned wrote: »

You were quoting full time salaries before, so I replied in the same vein, I see you are now including part-time workers, presumably just so you could disagree with my figures.

No, actually that was just a geniune mistake, sorry about that.

But looking at full-time pay, we still have over 60% of people in inner London earning less than £39,000.

nobblyned wrote: »

I made no comment on tax, merely your assertion that a wage of £39k is 'huge'

And I stand by that assertion. To most people in this country, £39k is a huge salary. Honestly, I've been really taken aback by people arguing with all sincerity that it is not.

Clearly, there are salaries that dwarf £39k. They're just off the scale.

nobblyned wrote: »

or the comment of another poster that you would be rich at this level.

That was me too, but I did concede the point and take it back. Well-off is a more appropriate term.

nobblyned wrote: »

In London it is below average, and in the whole of the country it would put you only in the top 1/5th - 1/6th of full time earners

Yeah "only" the top fifth. How awful.

nobblyned wrote: »

FWIW, the only thing to have gone over my head at this juncture is your pomposity.

Arguing using facts rather than hearsay, anecdotes and blind conjecture is pompous?

Mr._H_2

wolvoman wrote: »

Living in the UK is a choice too. By your own admission anyone earning the minimum wage in the UK is well-off in comparison to where they 'could' choose to live in the world.

Taking the world as a whole, there is a scarily large range of "well-offness". Yes, almost everyone in this country is better-off than the millions of people around the world who live in shanty towns with raw sewage flowing down the middle of all the "roads" and single-room "houses" made of corrugated iron.

Mr._H_2

I popped into a local estate agent 'round the corner from me in Bristol as a new "For Sale" sign had gone up outside my building and I didn't know which flat it was for. They said that they were really busy at the moment - plenty of demand and no sign of crashing prices...

Anecdotal, I know (the irony! ) but hey, at least it's on topic

brit1234

I work in one of the central London boroughs with all elements of the community. I can safely say that £39K is well above the average West London wage. Yes here in London we have hundreds of thousands of very wealthy people however we have millions who are not. When you look at London you have to see around The City, Big media and foreign Embassies, they only represent a small part of real London in comparison to the rest.

neverdespairgirl

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Slapped wrist accepted.:o

Mind you the ripple effect always starts amongst the "chattering classes" somewhere to the West of the Greenwich meridian? So perhaps we should have a ghetto thread called "I cannot sell my house" or "Why are all my viewing from time wasters" or "Help stuck in a chain", but only open to residents living within 30 miles to the West of Greenwich?

No slapped wrist intended! I just answered your question, that's all.

I get paid to chat for my job, so I think I'm one of the class (-:

ManAtHome

Mr._H wrote: »

I popped into a local estate agent 'round the corner from me in Bristol as a new "For Sale" sign had gone up outside my building and I didn't know which flat it was for. They said that they were really busy at the moment - plenty of demand and no sign of crashing prices...

Really busy putting up "for sale" signs - would be more impressive if they were putting up "sold" signs...

WTF?_2

Now Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, admits four years of falling house prices, in real terms, are likely:

http://www.ftadviser.com/dt_general.aspx?m=11288&amid=127485

Bear in mind that his job demands that he puts the best possible spin on things when he makes public statements and that he has a direct interest (the BoE guarantees on behalf of Northern Rock) in holding the market up.

Is anyone still singing the praises of the housing market - apart from the usual suspects here of course