any comments, thoughts, on this stock.

i doubt very much that the deservedly discredited HIPs have had any effect at all on house sales.

Cynic, aren't Estate Agent telling us that HIPs were doing just that?

Prior to HIPs there were bumper houses put up for sale, so a fall-back will be just the consequence.

I note you said "house Sales" - meaning completions, I presume. But sometimes people will "test" the market and then whilst looking something (also speculatively listed) catches their imagination . . . hence two sales where none was essential.
HIPs will cause some slewing of the Market and maybe create a grey market, who knows?

perhaps the lower end of the market is affected, but certainly not the upper echelons

It may be necessary to reduce interest rates but, I cannot understand why credit controls have not been introduced over the past few years. No doubt the current climate will force lenders to restrain themselves but, this is a hopeless way to do business given the greed that exists and the bonus system that rewards the amount of business won even though the quality of such business can be questionable. The current government, especially Brown, who I see is keeping his fat head down, is the epitome of waste, spend and incompetance and certainly no example. It is no wonder people do not trust a word of what any official says, because this has become a norm. If Brown was a financial director of a quality company he would have been given the boot long ago. These people should be made to pay and be more accountable.

I suppose you could replace Brown and Co with a bunch of school boy spivs lead by Blair's double Spiv Cameron. Remember Lamont and his advisors!

I was hoping that Kenneth Clarke was made new conservative leader. He would have made mincemeat of Brown & Co and he was not a bad Chancellor. The Conservatives just keep shooting themselves in the foot. Still I digress.

"Hushpuppy Man"? .... he may have been good in his day as was sans pareil Margaret Thatcher.

"i doubt very much that the deservedly discredited HIPs have had any effect at all on house sales. "

Totally incorrect, house sales have cratered!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/pdf/p/hpi/HousePriceIndex17thSep2007.pdf

But apparently just a temporary blip due to their introduction.

yes Clarke may be getting on a bit but he speaks with some logic and gets his points over well. You tend know what your getting and he puts opponents on their metal. This is necessary in opposition and seems lacking at present.

And the comment on HIPs only affecting the bottom end of the market .... the bottom end makes up the majority of the market and if that falters it falters all the way up.

If someone can't sell their castle/stately home then no one gives a sh*t and has little if any effect on overall market conditions.

I am always amazed that the same voices who blugeon politicians for their nanny state, suddenly look to blame them for a problem that started 3000 miles away in another country, and for not regulating to stop people buying what they want at the price they want to pay!
The housing market is regulated by simple demand and supply, as it should be. This will always lead to rises and falls.
The US problem, The NRK problem, The housing market problem. They are all the children of that most basic human trait of greed. If that is a truism and you really are unhappy with it, then fine, but please spare me the pleas for a return to the "greed is good" ethos of chancellors like Lamont and Clarke!!
Alan

My local estate agent offers a hip for 330 which can be paid for over a 12 month period for 360, quite a small amount compared with average 180,000 price tag but still a pscyhological barrier

Looks like anyone still short AL. will have been burned this morning....

Strawbs.

there's actually an AL thread running ...... Telegraph still reckoned SELL this morning, but at lest i have clawed back a significant lump and have put quite a tight stop in place in csae this is a very-lived bounce ..... rescued my shirt - lol!

Falco .... it's not so much the cost of a HIP but the actual value of them - and how long are they valid for? - and of course the lack of suitably qualified people, for it is not a job for normal surveyor.

of more use, to my mind, would be the adoption of the Scottish system, whereby if you put in a firm bid, it is legally binding on both parties.

You did mention it on here yesterday..... :-P

Looks like BB. and NRK have recovered a little too. I guess the chancellors blank cheque has helped.....

Strawbs.

Cynic,
Not that I would normally disagree with you, ;-) , but the Scottish system has the effect of magnifying house price booms. The very thing most on here seem to complain about.
The reason is very simple. Every time one puts an offer in, it must be through a solicitor and you must have had a survey done and mortgage offer in place. This costs as much as 2000 per offer and so a young couple looking to buy a flat in Glasgow see their deposit eaten away every time an offer fails, so eventually they decide that offering considerably more than the asking price is the only way to stop throwing 2 grand away every couple of weeks.
This is why most Scottish properties are on sale at "offers over".
Much prefer the English system, which will improve, BTW, as electronic storage and communications improve to the point where sale to completion is down to a week at most. Mortgage offers can already be produced in 30 minutes from application, and deeds are online. It is just the sales particulars and searches that are now a stumbling block. And idle solicitors, of course.
Alan

Alan - many thanks for the clarification; as so often i was talking with a certain amount of ignorance, which i know will come as a great surprise to you! ...... in truth, it is the legally binding aspect of the scottish system that appeals, not least because it puts a halt to gazumping, to revive a fave word of the 70s, and the seller also knows where he stands - suppose i should say it stands in today's nauseously pc world!

Not suprised - shocked!! ;-)
Gazumping (or more likely gazundering) will haunt us for some time yet, but the seeds are sown for a market without these things.
In truth our system has been drying out for years for something to change and I prefer a pre contract contract.
Simply an exchange of letters of intent, as any business would do. I will buy / sell at x price providing certain conditions are met and this agreement shall expire on xx date.
Works for me, but estate agents and solicitors hate the idea. It might cost 'em a few quid.
Alan