“Are the estate agents still as upbeat given the not-entirely-unpredicatble crash of Lehman Brothers Bank?

Who are they trying to kid?”

“Who in a remotely sane world could possibly think that a 2 bed, terraced in St. Thomas was ever really WORTH 140k ?
Mark my words,this obscenely inflated bubble will collapse; the ubiquitous Audi TT's will disappear from the driveways, the BT Lets (and many primaries) will be repossessed and the deluded "property moguls " who confused illusion with reality will soon learn that the Banks giveth and the banks taketh away.
Get your applications into Swansea HA without further delay, there's likely to be some queue!”

“I was amazed to read the comments of the Estate Agents. They obviously do not study the market the way I have been doing for the last year.In fact, I'm shocked ~ they are supposed to be professionals with an understanding of the housing market.
I'm currently looking to buy a property in Wales and actually travelling to Swansea this coming Monday to look at houses.
The facts are that UK prices have dropped from their peak in 2007 by around 12%. Mortgages are available but there are more constraints on borrowers now given the credit crunch.
That the Estate agents are "talking-up" a collapsing market is pretty evident ~ they have a vested interest.
That Vendors are desperately hanging on to the notion that their houses are still valued at 2007 prices is evident ~ very deluded I'm afraid.
I'm a buyer ~ Why would I buy a house in Swansea which is over-valued in a falling market?
No I'm waiting for reality to kick in and for Estate agents to stop lying.
As the recession takes hold and unemployment grows ~ including estate agents ~ prices in Swansea which are stupidly high will come down dramatically and I for one think this is a good thing.
Of benefit to the first-time buyer and others currently renting.
As regards my own position ~ I'll see what's around this visit. But I'm in no hurry. Between now and next year I envisage a further drop of about 20%.
Now won't that be a surprise for the out-of-work Estate agency fraternity.
I'd also request that more publicity be given in your newspaper about the benefits of house price reductions instead of the continuing squeals of Estate agents conning the public into thinking that a house price crash is NOT of benefit to the general populace.
Your paper seems a tad biased in this respect. Not supporting a vested interest are we??”

“Do these VI's not understand that house prices have been artifically created by a ponzi scheme based on irresponsible lending? Prices have been artifically inflated by about 40% and have to fall back to realsitic levels as we enter a recession.”

“Trevor Carr has a vested interest in saying what he does. He offers no evidence for his view. I''ll take this with a pinch of salt.”

“The usual foundation-less VI nonsense.
Take a trip back to the last crash (trivial compared to where this one is going) & you will find on the front page of this paper a headline proclaiming that a property with a £1000 (yes, one thousand) reserve failed to sell at auction.
Three years from now when all advertising revenue from estate agents has dried up & the UK is into a long painful (& unavoidable) depression perhaps we will see similar again.
Don't forget the financial system is terminally broken & only artful hotair is keeping it airborne.
The correction has hardly begun.”

“I don't give much credence to anything estate agents say about house prices just like I don' trust car salesmen when they are trying to sell me a car.

The UK is suffering a house price crash. It is going into recession. Each one feeds the other. Swansea won't be immune from this. If anything, considering our lack of manufacturing industry we'll suffer badly (probably worse than the average area in the UK).

Why would anyone want to buy a house today when they know they can buy it cheaper in future?”

“Every estate agent this time last year was saying no drops and that prices would 'plateau'. Money has been lost by the banks in housing, just how quick does clever trevor think they want to get in to back a losing horse? Housing has deviated from the 3½ times the median mortgage to riduculous ammounts such as 10 times salary interest only mortgages, based on the ridiculous notion of "affordability". Housing inflation quickly crept into a bubble owing to this cheap credit and now we are all going to suffer.
Inflation is spiralling out of control and yet again we have another puff piece for property instead of journalists urging the Bank of England to raise interest rates to control food and energy costs. Instead the Post show lazy journalistic content skills by asking estate agents how bad the falls are going to be! Why not ask a butcher why vegetarianism will never catch on!

Prices over swung on the way up and they will do more so on the way down. Here's a realsitic prediction, house prices will fall from the 2007 peak to below 3½times the median wage. 25% you all wish!”

“OK Steve, I will provide evidence. Let's take a few of the top economists from, where shall we start, the likes of Jeremy Helsby at Savills who is predicting a 25% fall in the coming two years, from much respected economist Fred Harrison who is predicting a 30% fall, from Willem Buiter at the London School of Economics and from James Hamilton at Numis Securities who both predict a 30% fall. How about Roger Bootle, considered one of the top UK economists, at Capital Economics who states that a 35% fall will occur in the next 2 years. Do you want some more Steve? How about Jeremy Grantham of GMO who is predicting a 50% crash. How about the numerous financial gurus at Moneyweek who are predicting 35% to 50% falls and who have repeatedly stated that the falls could even be greater as, in history, every financial bubble that burst resulted in a bust greater than the boom. Do you know more about economics than all these highly paid economists Steve? Fed up with economists Steve then lets try Simon Embley, group chief executive of LSL Property Services, parent group of Your Move and Reeds Rains - yes, an estate agent - who said only this week "Prices need to fall 25 per cent in cash terms this year, and fall even further in 2009, for transactions to return to near normal levels." An estate agent saying that house prices have to fall by 50% because even the top estate agents of the big UK property firms now get it. The banks are technically bust - that is why the Government had to make 200 billion of emergency funding available to them. That is why the financial papers are full each week of stories about which bank is close to becoming another Northern Rock. Yep, remember Northern Rock, the bank that ran out of money and is only still here because you, I and everyone in the UK is paying about one thousand pounds in tax to keep it afloat. Gee! If you think Swansea prices are not going to crash then you are not living on the same planet as all the above. It is only a matter of time!”

“Steve

The banks have lost enourmous amounts of money the world over - there is no liquidity in the wholesale money market therefore there is no interbank lending - therefore banks willnot lend out mortgages unless you are a sure bet. Housing has to return to 3.5 salary norm which is affordable and not credit driven . this is not a uk phenominom it is worldwide - fannie may -f mac . In order for prices to fall to the 3.5x salary norm in swansea they need to drop to the 100k mark for an average house not the current 150 - 160 k therefore the market must correct by 30% approx .
The only people stating less than this are vested interests trying to be optimistic . even the goverment can't save the housing market if it wanted as there is no money because they have borrowd and spent so much. You need to educate yourself on fractional reserve banking (which we parctise in the uk) bank deposts 10 quid it can lend 100 quid if a bank losses 100 quid it needs a deposit of 1000 quid to recover - currently uk banks have lost 4 trillion pounds - you do the maths!”