Is Britain's love affair with the property market finally over?

Snooze

Good article by Oliver Bennett in the Times newspaper today :

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/property_and_mortgages/article3931401.ece

Suggest making yourself a brew as it's a long one...

Rob

Microstar_2

Yes, for the time being.

brit1234

Yes, don't touch with a barge pole.

ManAtHome

Quite - but it really is different this time...

Last time we had 6 or 7 years of "how the tories nutmegged me and stitched me up like a kipper", this time it'll probably be 15 years of "how nulabour nutmegged me and stitched me up like a kipper"....

PasturesNew

Reading the first paragraph of that, I thought I knew those people and their names/location had been changed.

I know a couple with an almost similar profile, but without the kids. They live in a good-sized 4-bed detached house and have just paid off the last of their £27k mortgage from savings they had waiting in their offset account.

The people I knew mix with middle class people, but never felt the need to buy-to-show-off.

And that's what all this is about isn't it... people buying to show off.

slipthru

ManAtHome wrote: »

Quite - but it really is different this time...

Last time we had 6 or 7 years of "how the tories nutmegged me and stitched me up like a kipper", this time it'll probably be 15 years of "how nulabour nutmegged me and stitched me up like a kipper"....

Only it really isn't down to the government, it's the Bankers.

hostman

slipthru wrote: »

Only it really isn't down to the government, it's the Bankers.

No, it is Government. They could have legislated to force sensible lending, but they didn't. They have allowed the housing bubble to form and force all of us into massive debt.

jamescredmond

PasturesNew wrote: »

Reading the first paragraph of that, I thought I knew those people and their names/location had been changed.

I know a couple with an almost similar profile, but without the kids. They live in a good-sized 4-bed detached house and have just paid off the last of their £27k mortgage from savings they had waiting in their offset account.

The people I knew mix with middle class people, but never felt the need to buy-to-show-off.

And that's what all this is about isn't it... people buying to show off.

oh yes.

and not just in housing.

a quality restaurant in my area was, until recently, booked solid at w/ends by well-dressed people who looked upon me with disdain whenever I walked in wearing faded jeans/cheap kickers.

once, when the waiter asked me how I would like to pay, I said in loudish voice 'with my own money!'

I got the feeling the point wasn't lost on nearby tables.

once fully booked 2 weeks in advance, this eaterie now has tables for the asking at anytime.

does all this make me feel smug? damn right it does.

we don't eat out often. for years we never ate out at all.

now we can eat without the presence of armani suits, jimmy choo shoes and wads of borrowed cash being waved around. and both of us basking in the warm, rosy glow of knowing that the cash we're about to part with has been earned.

smugness indeed.

btw, my local pub l/lord tells me that his takings from lunches has fallen by a third since last summer.

not to worry, though. it's a small blip and soon it'll be business as usual................

hostman

jamescredmond wrote: »

once fully booked 2 weeks in advance, this eaterie now has tables for the asking at anytime.

Or perhaps the other diners know something you don't: Environmental Health found dead rats in the kitchen

On a more serious note - I too have noticed restaurant's that were previously very busy on Thursday / Friday / Saturday, now aren't.

dubsey

This is the opposite to the restaurant/pub I work in, we are rammed solid every night of the week. In fairness we are in a lovely position on a river with a hotel right next door and another a couple of hundred yards up the road.

Last wednesday night the boss asked me to go down to the bar with her ( I am a kind of restaurant receptionist that takes bookings/shows people to tables etc) to empty the tills because the bar staff had asked her to. A few weeks ago when the kids were off school (in fairness lovely weather and as I said we are on a river) we had a queue out of the door all afternoon/evening for the restaurant and people complaining they couldn't find anywhere to park in our huge car park.

When it starts to go quiet at around 10pm, we have the same conversation every night - where the hell is everyone getting the money from? Houses here are dropping but no-one seems to have noticed as far as shopping and eating out are concerned. I'm starting to feel like it's only us noticing the pinch and watching what we spend. We are going to the restaurant for our anniversary this weekend (luckily I booked weeks in advance because it's for saturday) but only because I get such a massive discount!

do_it_today!

I passed a restaurant bar last night that we like to eat in occasionally and noticed....
1. it was literally empty
2. menu greatly simplified
3. prices reduced

I was surprised