'Penny finally drops' as home sellers slash the asking price

“Thank you Indy Hannah, but I think Karen362 is usually far better at that sort of thing, and I take my hat off to her. HOWEVER I think you will find I never said 'All those'. Rather takes away the point of your rant though.”

“Isolde, if the attitudes you express in your writing are truly your own and you are not just being deliberately provocative and obnoxious on an internet forum, then they display a woeful ignorance and prejudice. Do you honestly think that all those in rented accommodation are there because they lack academic qualifications, intelligence and education and are "in a hole on the dole"? I am in rented accommodation because despite being well able to afford monthly mortgage payments, paying forty odd thousand pounds for a deposit is out of the question at the moment. My education was pretty good actually - ten GCSEs, four A levels, one degree and a PGCE. I spent some years teaching, moving around before settling here and starting my own business, on which I have worked relentlessly for seven years. Your patronising comment that I and people like me, and "the masses" should "get an education" is frankly insulting. You appear to be fairly unenlightened as to the fact that in this country, wealth and savings have become inextricably linked to owning property, and that is why people aspire to it. And why should they not? I have never read anyone write such offensive rubbish on this page, and believe me, you are up against some pretty stiff competition.”

“Depends what you mean by "then", but in the medium term my guess is an awful lot lower than today's credit fueled and completely unsustainable high.

They're already on the slide, as witnessed by reports like this, but they haven't begun to pick up speed yet, and it's a slippery slope...”

“It's all panning out quite well for the government. Raising retirement age, which as the average first time buyers age is something like 40, it will give them a good 25/30years to repay. I wonder what the house prices will be then?”

“Fair comments 2LBs. I think the only things we can know for sure are that interest rates can't go down, and they won't stay the same forever.

So the only certainty is a rise, but when and how much, who knows?

All of which make comments like the estate agents in the report that "prices should be stable for the next three or four years" a bit of a joke.”

“Hi SmartyC

I did send a comment through shortly having made my previous one but as yet it hasn't appeared (you watch it will miraculously appear now)! stating that 14% was not viable in the current financial situation. I jolly well hope not any way. I can't actually find my financial magazine where I read it so I can't even confirm who wrote the report. Heigh-ho. Bit disorganised here with redecorating.”

“Re my last comment (this may be a repeat)

I doubt that in the current financial situation the interest rates will rise if at all more than 1% per year which means that 14% would not be reached in the near future if at all! I think the person who estimated the 14% was assuming rapid growth which isn't exactly happening.”

“14% seems a lot, if that did happen it would be financial armageddon, I can't see the government or the BOE allowing it.

However with the current base rate at 0.5%, and a typical mortgage rate of, say, 3%, it isn't going to take much of a lift to make a big impact on monthly mortgage payments.

To put it in context, if the base rate rises 2.25% it'll add £2,250 per year to the repayments of a £150K mortgage. A rise of 4.5% obviously doubles that to £4,500!

You can work out yourself therefore what a 10% rise would do..!

People are already hugely stretched by fuel costs and wage squeezes, there just isn't the slack to cope for many, sadly.”

“If as has been suggested the interest rates hit 14% over the next few years you are going to get all sorts of problems. One wonders what will happen to certain landlords who have taken out mortgages to purchase property to rent. The house prices should fall quite rapidly if this sort of interest does hit us, as very few people will be able to afford the repayments. We need land prices to fall as well so that new builds can be less expensive. It's no good being able to build houses for 70k if the land it's built on is 200k. The housing problem definitely needs a kick up the **** but let's hope it helps the most needy and not just more landlords.”

“Karen362, estate agents didn't "over value" property, they don't set the margins and have zero influence over property prices, buyers do that.

Estate agents work for the vendor, so of course they're going to try and sell for as much as they can get, that's entirely their job and they're be in dereliction of duty if they didn't.

How would you feel if you sought professional advice as to the maximum you could obtain for an item you wished to sell, and the professional you employed advised selling for thousands of pounds less than he knew he could achieve because he though it was "fairer"? You'd be livid, and rightly so.

The house price increase was caused by the banks who allowed far greater (and unsustainable) amounts to be lent via self certification, interest only loans, Buy To Let, etc etc. Simply put, if you lend everyone twice as much money as previously, they don't all get to live in twice as good houses, they end up with the same houses but at twice the price.

That reckless lending is over now, and all that remains is for house prices to correct to a level that is affordable with current lending.

However with unrealistic vendors and estate agents suggesting 10% is "a big drop", together with artificially low interest rates maintaining a veneer of affordability, that's not going to happen as quickly as last time.

Wait till interest rates go up, and they will. THEN you'll see a real collapse.”