best house market predictions

[tali122]

you get all sorts of experts stating from a boom to a crash so who has the best record for predicting house prices? -is it the halifax (the biggest lender), other banks, an economist, stockbrokers ?

[Loosehead]

Well I don't know the best but I do know that you should take very little notice of those with a vested interest. Lenders and Estate agents are the worst culprits. The only figures that matter are what property actually sells for and the Land registry publish those figures but not every 5 minutes so other agencies make up there own figures with a varying amount of pinches of salt.

[oldhenry]

Look, I have been buying houses for 35 years, in that time they have really gone one way ,UP, bigtime.Why?. Look at the fundamentals , as in any investment. There is a growing population, the country is wide open to immigration but the land mass is diminishing ,but housing needs increasing. People are buying houses for pensions as shares are volatile, the result is that property is increasing well beyond the scope of pay awards etc. Therefore the prediction is that houses will prices themselves up until people cannot afford them.
This is hidden at the moment by 'babyboomers' subsidising their offsping in buying houses, paying deposits etc( I know I am one!). they are feeding the boom. This will continue for some time. Government are feeding the house boom by forcing Councils to release any crap sites for housing.
Where will it end?, who knows. Certainly not the Halifax etc who have no more collective brains than your or me, but have the power to project utter crap across the Ether. Make your own investment decisons based on fundamentals and totally ignore the rubbish put out by parties that benefit from you believing their propoganda.