PricedOut > Resources > Articles

My Mortgage Direct anticipates the return of the FTB

Editor - FirstRung.com, 15 July 2006

An incisive piece of comment dissecting one of the many spin laden press releases so common from market players.

"Whilst the team at Firstrung operate a 'non-intervention policy' for the press releases we receive, we felt we couldn't simply publish these findings from the recent My Mortgage Direct survey without comment as it contains, in our opinion, glaring contradictions:"

On the house? Don’t fall for it

Antonia Senior Personal Finance Editor - The Times, 8 July 2006

Another article exposing the dangers of thinking of homes as investments.

"When did houses stop being our homes and become the panacea for all financial ills? No longer is it enough to view your home as a place to eat, sleep and live. Now it is a pension, a means of cheap credit, a sort of personal bank, which just happens to have beds in it."

Why housing wealth is an illusion

John Stepek - MoneyWeek, 7 July 2006

With so many people obsessed with their paper property wealth John Stepek highlights the absurdity of it all.

"What people are really doing is using their homes as giant credit cards. Let me explain.

What some homeowners seem to have difficulty realising is that equity in your house isn’t anything like cash in the bank. The ‘equity’ is based on an estimate of a value which may or may not be accurate. The only way you can find out how much equity is actually in your house is to sell it."

Buy-to-let investors face curbs

Becky Barrow - Daily Mail, 20 June 2006

Finally the government appear to waking up to the imbalances the BTL investment fad are causing.

"BUY-to-let investors could face a clampdown after being accused of pricing local families out of the housing market.

An official report today attacks the growing army of private landlords for 'artificially' driving up prices and distorting local housing markets."

You Brits all want a patch of earth to call your own - but only because you're obsessed with its escalating value. It's sheer greed

Lionel Shriver - The Guardian, 13 June 2006

An angry piece hitting the nail on head and taking a swipe at the "property porn" shows that have been clogging our airwaves.

"It may be an almost universal rule of human nature that everyone craves a home. I accept that. But Britain's recent obsession with property is out of control."

House prices too high - Prescott

BBC News, 9 August 2005

An honest admission from the very top of the labour party that house prices are simply too high.

"John Prescott said the price of houses in Britain is too high except for people already on the property ladder."

Why 2006 will be disappointing for property bulls

John Stepek - MoneyWeek, 9 June 2006

MoneyWeek continue to impress with their insightful disection of the latest batch of property market stories in the mainstream press.

Second-home owners are among the most selfish people in Britain

George Monbiot - The Guardian, 23 May 2006

Taking to task the issue of second home ownership given the current state of the housing market.

"What greater source of injustice could there be, that while some people have no home, others have two? Yet the vampire trade in second homes keeps growing - by 3% a year - uninhibited by government or by the conscience of the buyers. Every purchase of a second house deprives someone else of a first one. But to speak out against it is to identify yourself as a killjoy and a prig."

Second time-buyers stay put

Simon Lambert - ThisIsMoney, 22 May 2006

"Rising house prices have left people unable to climb off the first rung of the property ladder while compounding the difficulties for first-time buyers."

The Age War is here - and the young are losing it to the old

Andrew Rawnsley - The Observer, 21 May 2006

An excellent piece highlighting the divisions being created by issues such as high house prices.

"Division and conflict between the generations are going to become defining features of our society in the years ahead."

Where is the housing crash?

James Ferguson - MoneyWeek, 14 April 2006

Another excellent article from MoneyWeek exploring the likelihood of property prices collapsing under their own weight.

"Regular readers of MoneyWeek might remember that I’ve been warning about an impending housing slowdown in the UK since my first article on the subject appeared in May 2004."

How long can house prices stay high?

MoneyWeek, letter from an ex-estate agent

An eye opening letter from an ex-estate agent. We like this letter because it eloquently points out a number of our problems we have identified with the UK housing market.

"In the UK, there is a whole industry devoted to talking property prices UP."

Why I'd like a house price crash

BBC News, Evan Davis

An interesting article and thought provoking article by the BBC's economics editor.

"When house prices rise on the other hand, society is no richer. We have the same houses and the same people to live in them.

Higher house prices simply re-distribute money from those on the way up the housing ladder, to those on the way down, or from younger people who don't own homes, or own small ones, to their parents who own family property. "