Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

If rising house prices was a vote loser, do you think they would be going up?

that wasn't quite the point ..... as far as i am concerned, politics on this issue are merely a side issue and i'll try to stay away from that

Cyners yep agree with you............"in my opinion, the upper limit for help to buy is preposterous, and even for london suburbs, where prices are assuredly far higher than pretty much anywhere else, £450'ish will buy you something very respectable - but the borrower (+ partner?) would still need an income of about £100k to pass the other tests for affordability etc"......

How stringent are the tests?

certainly much tighter than they used to be when one could self-assess .... nevertheless, i think certain cases of estate agents "working the oracle" have recently been uncovered

I bet they have :-)

CYNERS from the FT....... Just out on twitter........

ECONOMYUK lending to first-time buyers at post-crisis high
7 minutes ago

Lending to first-time home buyers in the UK has surged to its highest level since the end of 2007, new data from the Bank of England show.

The value of residential mortgage loans extended to people making their first house purchases has jumped by nearly 40 per cent, to £9.9bn, over the past year - the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2007, the BoE said.

First-time buyers accounted for 20 per cent of the new residential lending granted in the third quarter of the year, the highest proportion since the data series began.

A further breakdown of the lending stats:

Gross advances, including lending to first-time buyers and buy-to-let lending and new commitments are at their highest levels since 2008;
Similarly, interest rates on new lending, the number of new arrears cases and stocks of possessions cases remaining unsold are at their lowest level since the series began in 2007.
The overall value of the residential loan amounts outstanding was £1,234 billion in Q3 2013, an increase of 0.3% compared with Q2.
Gross advances of £49.5 billion in Q3 2013 were 19% higher than in Q2 2013 – an upward movement usual in the third quarter of the year, but also 25% higher compared with the same quarter in 2012. This was the highest amount advanced in a quarter since Q3 2008.
Net advances in Q3 2013 amounted to £7.2 billion, which was 29% higher compared with Q3 2012.

Economy, UK

Jesus christ we do get them on money am these days.

I blame it on advfn stopping live links for non subscribers.

Best just to filter I suppose.

33845 - if that is indeed so, then i'm delighted to hear it, but i don't think that invalidates what i wrote earlier

Cyners to be honest I dont think anyone as a clue at the moment if the housing market is overheating or what. Seems to me like the economy its all REGIONAL, a lot more than it used to be.

That said I dont want central government leaning towards regional policys.

Labour Whips ‏@labourwhips 12m
Urgent Question from @RachelReevesMP granted on Government's Universal Credit shambles.

More 'urgent' nonsense from Labour.

a recovering economy is surely bound to be regional - e.g. where the businesses of all kinds are located - but eventually that permeates throughout

are there exporting or even manufacturing businesses of any kind in say barnsley?
probably not, or not of great substance

on the other hand, sunderland (nissan) and swindon (honda) are almost certainly starting to rollock along as well as the businesses in other regions that supply their support services

Interesting that whenZuma was shown on big screen at Mandela memorial the crowd booed him.

Universal Credit IT system can't yet cope with couples

Universal Credit IT system cannot yet cope with couples or people with children, officials admit


Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary Photo: JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES



The NAO suggested that the DWP was reluctant to admit problems with Universal Credit, accusing the department of having a “fortress mentality”.




By Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent

8:06PM GMT 09 Dec 2013




The computer system used to run Universal Credit cannot cope with the “complicated” lives of thousands of benefits claimants, officials have admitted.


Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, was forced to deny that the Coalition’s flagship welfare reform is a “debacle” despite officials conceding that the IT system was unable to cope with couples and families.


Mr Duncan Smith was speaking after he told MPs that more than £40 million spent on IT for the project had already been written off.


He also admitted that a further £91 million of software would effectively be defunct within the next five years as Universal Credit moves to a digital system.


Mr Duncan Smith has faced growing criticism over the project, which has been beset by rising costs and delays.


More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10507067/Universal-Credit-IT-system-cant-yet-cope-with-couples.html

cant cope with couples or kids LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

Oh dear hays.

make no wonder our rachel is getting a prime spot.

It is hardly IDS's fault if there are computer problems.

At least he is doing something about our stupid benefits system.

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL ohhhhh you tell em hays you tell em.

The truth is IDS as been under severe pressure ever since Greyling left that department over a year ago. its obvious to a blind man who was running the show.