the co-ownership ceasing to function, I posted this....

http://www2.u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=88113&pt=n

I totally agree with you Ken. People need to realise that there are 2 main points to co-ownership. First is that you pay your mortgage for 50% of a home AND then you still have to pay rent to the co-ownership company for the other 50% of the house so you are still huge amounts a month and for what...50% of a home.
Second point is that if prices rise then when you want to buy out the 50% to own it outright, you have to pay the higher cost of your house valuation, BUT and here's the clincher to never use this scheme, if prices fall, as they are now, when you want to buy out the other 50% you don't buy it at the reduced valuation, you buy it at the price you first bought the 50% for. I can't for the life of me think why someone would do a co-ownership for an asset that's not totally theirs nor is it doing anything but falling in price.

I bet my next salary they won't print it....watch this space

I was more concerned about one of the other news items. "Donaldson sells NI to the US" I wonder how much he got for it.

Subby, it's printed! Still want that month's salary?

I'll take that bet...

... dam too late, they printed it

Really good post.

errrr....drinks on me instead

Good news, it'll result in less demand again plus many FTBs won't get screwed and prices will continue to decline

yours got posted as well doccy

This is what I posted -

"This is NOT, repeat NOT, a bad thing for first time buyers. As a potential first time buyer this is the best news I have had in ages! Why? Simple - this is the final nail in the coffin of the over valued NI housing market. Property Bubble + Credit Crunch + closing of co-ownership - speculators (who have all gone) = one massive property crash! This is absolutely terrible news for investors and estate agents as it can only cause even further falls to property prices already falling at terminal velocity! Anyone in a housing chain at the moment should also be worried - if the bottom of the chain has a person relying on co-ownership, then the whole chain will fall." ENDS.

I heard a spokesman for DSD on Radio Ulster say that this announcement could cause further falls in the NI Property Market as he had evidence to suggest that vendors were pushing prices up to the current limits. Certainly I have seen countless ads from developers in the press in recent times targeting FTBS via co-ownership. Which makes me think WHY did the Minister announce a scrapping of the cap? On the same station it was also reported that an EA also pointed out that this would further reduce demand to an already deflated market (paraphrasing here).

Anyway - what can support the bottom of the market now? This is one of the biggest things to hit the local market in recent times. In one announcement practically ALL demand at the bottom of the market is now gone! You are now looking at a price of about £110,000 for a FTB to consider buying, and that assumes a 5x mortgage which, given other recent news in respect of the credit crunch, is far from a given!

Lets all eat easter eggs and be happy - the property market is DOOMED, perhaps we should spare a little easter time prayer for all those investors now in a state of panic as the bottom falls out of their murky empire?

What I find funny, is the number of people who don't see the bigger picture. Why are people so myopic? Surely, it's not so hard to see that prices are coming down and this is yet another reason for that to happen. People seem happy to take on huge debts, even if half of "their" house isn't even their own! What sort of madness is this? Can they not see that in a few years, they'll be able to buy a house for a similar amount per month as they are renting for now, with a much smaller debt hanging around their necks.

Perhaps this is all testament to to the "I want it now!" attitude of the younger generations. Put it on plastic, MEW for a holiday, car loans all the way... whatever happened to good, old fashioned, saving? I can't say I'm credit free, but I draw a line way before many of the sheeple out there.

well said - its printed now.

Just chucked in my tuppence worth!

New one up


House prices and mortgage deals down - dire predictions up.
http://www2.u.tv/BusinessNews/index.asp?iN...Date=18/03/2008



I've put in a comment.

I work as an electrician. A young guy whom i'd never met before was working alongside me today. He was about 23. Out of the blue he told be he had just bought a house and was worrying about being skint. He said he bought the house as he was fed up with renting.

So sure am I now that the mother of all crashes is well underway I couldn't even bring myself to reply to poor guy. I just went along with it and wished him good luck.
What else COULD I say?? I'm sorry to hear that you poor ******* ??
I used to argue with people all the time about there being a housing crash. Now I don't even bother. It dosn't really matter how many times you tell someone the truth, If they believe something else they will go with what they believe no matter how ill the logic.

Most people don't have a clue about whats really going on in the world. Few people I meet believe anything thats not in the papers or on News at Ten. All my familly and most friends don't have a notion about whats really happening around them. Sometimes I question my own beliefs with the only reason being everyone else seems to think i'm wrong. However as time goes by we are being proved right. I am amazed at the speed of unfolding events. Most people are oblivious though. They think the good days will not be allowed to end.

I felt like writing another post, complete with trademarked "Bear-spin" - hey, why not kick the VIs when they are down!

"I think it is important to realise that the co-ownership scheme was only ever meant to be a tool to aid those minority of would-be first-time buyers (FTBs) to enter a market they otherwise could not. It was never meant to be used as the normal method for practically all FTB's to jump on the property ladder, and therefore wasn't funded for that. We have to ask ourselves do we want our tax money to be used to effectively prop up the immoral investments of rich property speculators? In the current climate this is exactly what the scheme was doing. It is entirely right that the scheme is stopped now, albeit temporally, as its absence will certainly add more downward pressure to a market already falling by up to 25% a quarter (i.e mid-ulster). I for one would prefer that the NI Assembly spend taxpayers money on health care and education than to appropriate more funds in-year to DSD to open this scheme again. Let normal market conditions fix the property bubble once and for all! "

nothing up so far, I'll post too....