If people would simply buy houses and apartments using good simple rental/ownership comparisons instead of doing it because “it is a good investment” (in other words, speculating on your home), this bubble wouldn’t exist in the first place.

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Sorry if its too many questions I’m just curious, I agree that some people are overly cranky, but not everyone here is.

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If when prices are falling is the best time to buy I guess some of you here are busy buying up US real estate then… Somehow I think a bear will be a bear.

Psst you’d have better discussions on here if you were nicer to the bulls.

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That scenario only works if you don’t want a home to actually live in. I’d like a place to stay in for many, many years; not sell-out in a short timespan. You know, that antiquated idea of being a part of one’s community.

Strange how some people think everyone needs to speculate on houses, rather than just live in them.

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Anyway, it allows us to say that there is no problem that the affordability wall has been hit, that future demand has been sapped, that rates aren’t going to give a break to new buyers, that we are heading into probably prolonged “softness” in the economy (which always comes as a “surprise” to the talking heads, doesn’t it) etc etc etc., all of which adds up to a pretty bearish long term outlook for housing. Banks haven’t been offering 500k neg am mortgages to busboys, so all is good. There problem is other people, not us.

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Yeah, and wouldn’t you be more satisfied if you had only picked the winning numbers for Saturday’s lottery? Statements like the one from “empty pockets” show how ignorant the general population is concerning investments and personal finance. The crap thing is responsible individuals end up paying for these morons’ stupidity through public bailouts and higher taxes.

Hey empty pockets if it’s so easy to predict exactly when an event will take place how about a prediction from you? F*cktard.

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That is the reason why house prices fall, everywhere, every time. Not enough qualified buyers for the current rate of supply.

The emphasis on “subprime” is IMHO just a tactic to convince people that the problem was that the “wrong” people (i.e. poor and darkies) had been buying, rather than that the prices simply didn’t make sense and have to come down. Period.

And of course in the Canadian context, another effort to convince the masses that “it’s different here”.

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“That means you were only wrong for 3yrs. Wouldn’t you be even more satisfied if you had brought 3yrs ago and sold yesterday? If I were you I know I would be.”

Actually you’re absolutely wrong. If I say the sun will rise tomorrow I am not wrong for the next eight hours until I suddenly become right when the sun does rise.

Also, selling YESTERDAY would be fool’s business. Any smart investor knows you sell off safely before peak, if you’re trying to sell a place right now you could very well end up locked in for the ride unless you slash your asking price.

You are obviously not very knowledgeable in the ways of making money in markets. For the few to excel so phenomenally there must be a great many who fail, the reason is everything is backwards. Here is a bit of advice (not my original idea or anything) that the top investors know.

Sell when your commodity’s prices are rising. Buy when they are falling.

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“The surprisingly severe drop reinforced opinions that the housing market faces a bleak year…”

Where do they get this stuff? The only thing surprising about Britain’s property market is that it took so long to drop. Same thing for Vancouver. This kind of reporting – and the mass-delusion it fuels – goes a long way to explaining the worldwide housing bubble that is slowly crashing all around us, and will potentially drive the world into a global economic recession.

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That means you were only wrong for 3yrs. Wouldn’t you be even more satisfied if you had brought 3yrs ago and sold yesterday? If I were you I know I would be.
Strange how some people are easily satisfied.

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Actually many people were borrowing up to 125%, the leader in this lending being an outfit called Northern Rock.

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Yes, I’ll never forget a friend telling me in 1999, quote: “I can’t afford not to be in JDS Uniphase” which, had as spectacular a meltdown as Nortel and thousands of other tech darlings in mid-2000+…this same mentality has gripped the local RE market for the number of years….but, its feeling alot like mid-2000 right about now.

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1)UK housing market is diving. Financial crisis starting (people borrowed to much money, up to 100% of the value of their house)

2) Investors running away from Spain. Housing market collapsing. Banks in trouble.

3) Ireland housing market to dive very soon

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“When a particular asset class delivers outstand-
ing returns over an extended period, investors
become convinced that there are solid funda-
mental reasons for the trend. Theories are
developed to justify participation and disregard
valuation considerations. In the early ’70s, the
“Nifty Fifty” stocks like Polaroid and Xerox were
going to make money forever. At the beginning
of the decade, the Internet was going to render
traditional industries irrelevant. Today, growth
in China and India is expected to translate into
a permanent shortage of commodities.

Also

During the technology mania, valuation consider-
ations were dismissed due to fear of missing out
and underperforming “hot” investment man-
agers committed to the new era”

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British House Prices fall sharply in March

http://www.reportonbusiness.co.....bNews/home

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