A report today shows how quickly house prices are racing ahead of the salaries of so-called key workers.
London and vast swathes of the South-East are already beyond the means of nurses, firefighters, teachers and the other state-employed people who keep the nation going.
Not so long ago, this would have been seen as proof that public-sector workers were underpaid.
Not any more. Salaries in the public sector - and the gold-plated pensions that go with them - are now the envy of many working for private companies.
What we are seeing in this survey by the Halifax is not poor people unable to get on the housing ladder, but middle-earners.
And what this tells us is that Britain’s enormous bubble of vastly over-priced properties is in serious danger of imploding.
When people stop buying at the bottom of the housing chain, the whole house-buying process stops.
Some experts are predicting a collapse in house prices similar to the negative-equity nightmare of the early 1990s.
Some believe the market may slide gradually downward to a “soft landing.”
Only one thing is certain. The crisis facing millions of families facing enormous mortgage repayments and property-secured loans is the direct result of misguided government policy.
Look at town and city centres all over Britain. Most are blighted with derelict properties and brownfield land which is ripe for new housing, precisely where it is needed.
So why are we waiting? Why has this Government done so little to promote the redevelopment of these sites?
Can it be than Chancellor Gordon Brown’s “prudent” economy has been built entirely on the illusion of wealth created by rising property values based on an artificial shortage of homes?
If so, it is a high-risk strategy. When people can no longer buy, Gordon’s house of cards will collapse - and who knows how many millions of families will be crushed in the wreckage?
Obesity is caused by food not genes
Scientists claim to have discovered a genetic link to obesity.
So what’s new? We have known for generations that plump parents produce plump children.
But if genes are the only answer, isn’t it strange that so many millions of people have piled on so much weight in the past few years - a period which also saw a explosion in the fast-food market?
We are what we eat. If we pig out on pies and pints we will get fat. If we eat sensibly we will stay thinner.
And if we try to blame it all on our genes, we are fooling only ourselves.
6 Comments
Quite a bit of debt is due to people trying to impress with the latests ‘toy’s and vehicles. People should get back to basics and spend quality time with family.
I’m confused, why as a newspaper normally supporting free market economics are you advocating central planning as to where people should be allowed to build new houses?
You are normally vehermantly opposed to additional regulation and “red tape”, what is your proposal for government promotion of certain sites if not more “red tape”?
My Mother has always said, and I agree with her ‘cut your cloth accordingly’ unfortunately, people of today have no patience to wait, they want NOW, therefore, the debt mounts up and the lack of funds to pay the debt causes bancrupcy. Instead of teaching younsters trendy subjects, teach them proper maths, credit and debit, and how to balance a wage packet against the bills.
Seems commonsense isn’t taught in too many schools, or is it because the children aren’t bothered?
I’m 27 and have a good job. I could afford to buy but why would any sensible person buy a house in todays market?
Should I pay over £1100 per month sfr a half decent house and stretch my finances, or rent for half that money without any worries… tough decision huh!
When the housing crash does arrive (and it will) then it will not be a gradul decline in prices, it will be a crash. Simple logic says it has to be. I don’t envy new homeowners, i pity them.
27 year old Pete. If you took out a mortgage now, you would be done with it by age 57. I know that you think this is a long time away but it will come sooner than you think.
You would only have property taxes to worry about then and the occassional repair. If you decide to rent all your life, you will pay rent all your life. Presumably, hopefully, you will live beyond 57 years.
While I don’t pretend to fully understand all the issues that have contributed to the artifically high houseing prices, not the least of which is too many people on too little land, I do understand that homeownership seems to be seen as a right. If your not “on the property ladder”, your somehow missing out. Like a university degree, not everyone either wants or is suited to homeownership. Personally, I’m deferring becoming a bondsmaid of the lenders in favour of topping up my pension fund. Your going to need it!