Key Post Why speculation about Irish house prices is banned

Further speculation about the future direction of house prices is banned on Askaboutmoney.

There were over 8,000 posts on the topic in this thread. Anything which can be said on the subject has been said already. No new useful information was emerging.

The unique feature of Askaboutmoney is that it provides useful information and discussion in a polite way. We delete abusive posts and offensive language. The thread on house prices absorbed a huge amount of moderators' time as there were frequent breaches of the Posting Guidelines. We don't mind spending our time editing useful threads, the this thread generated only heat and no light.

This thread summarises the arguments relating to the future direction of Irish house prices. If anyone wants to update this summary in a balanced way, please email it to me at and the mods will review it.

For those who want to continue the discussion, there are loads of other sites including:

thepropertypin

[broken link removed]

This ban does not stop people asking genuine questions on matters arising from the falls in house prices e.g.

How to get a bargain in a falling market?
How to sell in a falling market.
Should I buy now or wait?
What is the best way of trading up?
What is the best way of trading down?
I have paid a deposit, but now I don't want the house?

While this type of question is allowed, people should not use these threads to speculate about house prices. Such posts will be deleted and repeat offenders will be banned.


Brendan

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

Brendan said:

We have made it absolutely clear that this discussion has been done to death. Go to some other site if you wish to discuss house prices.
I have invited someone to submit a balanced summary of the arguments and we will post this if someone does it.

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Given that this is the most popular financial site in Ireland and that the state of the property market is arguably the most important current theme it is amazing that it should not be discussed here. It's your site and you are of course free to do as you please with it but I must say I am disappointed with your decision.

I doubt that we will see any balanced discussion of the subject on the likes of "globalhousepricecrash.com."

Poor show.

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

bankrupt said:

Sorry I missed your post on the "house price sentiment" thread, have read it now. Perhaps an announcement would be appropriate?

Given that this is the most popular financial site in Ireland and that the state of the property market is arguably the most important current theme it is amazing that it should not be discussed here.

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lol There is already 400 odd pages of it in the house sentiment thread and most of it is the same old bearish mantra of doom and gloom - you even have it in the Mcwilliams thread, the dark clouds ahead in the Irish economy thread, the interest rate thread - how much more of it do you want?

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

demoivre said:

There is already 400 odd pages of it in the house sentiment thread and most of it is the same old bearish mantra of doom and gloom

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My sentiments exactly! It was like the regular posters on this thread were in competition with each other to generate the best point of view. Gave up reading it weeks ago.

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

It is a pity it is now closed as I have been following it closely since it began and it was interesting to read all the opinions etc from both sides of the fence.

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

SherryTrifle said:

The thousands of views on the thread EVERY DAY suggests many people found the debate stimulating and far from over/finished. Theres new news on the market every week so its interesting to have all the links to news items on the thread. Shutting such a popular thread smacks of an attempt to supress discussion. Im sure many hundreds followed that thread although only a few dozen posted, but everyone was free to post with reasoned arguments.

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As the propertypin site shows others will fill this gap in AAM coverage of affairs so those who want to can still discuss such matters. Have you checked out their site? It might just be what you're looking for.

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

" the ask price of XYZ has been reduced from 450k to 435k "

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I too found the thread getting repetitive and boring with the constant reference to house price decreases ad nauseum

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

Im delighted that its not allowed. I might be able to return to that section now to read some sensible discussions. Some of the posters on that discussion were ramming their opinions and the discussion became so repetitive that it turned me off. It was a brave decision by Brendan. Thanks. Im sure it wont be a populat one but that is the beauty of this site. Its not answerable to any corporate body like the banks etc so no one can claim that the decision was made for commercial reasons. Im sure the moderators were sick of reading the same rubbish day after day.

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

Why not shut particular threads when they run their course? This happens all the time without any problem.

It just sounds a bit drastic to ban all discussion of a major financial topic such as house prices.

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

ubiquitous said:

Why not shut particular threads when they run their course? This happens all the time without any problem.

It just sounds a bit drastic to ban all discussion of a major financial topic such as house prices.

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It would just spring up again in a new guise to be honest. Really enjoyed the thread and am majorly bearish on house prices but everything that needed to be said was probably said at some stage and most of it was repetition (myself included).

discussion of property prices - are the still banned?

In view of the crisis in the irish property market at the moment, I would like to know if the discussion of prices is still banned? I'm sure there are alot of people out there buyers and sellers who would like to discuss the current price trend. However I would like clariification from moderators before starting a thread (or not).

Many thanks.


Angela59

Re: discussion of property prices - are the still banned?

The ban was enacted almost a year ago now. In that time so much has changed to the property market that it is bordering on the insane that the largest financial forum in Ireland doesn't allow people to discuss the single most important financial issue of our time.

Re: discussion of property prices - are the still banned?

Yes it is still banned on Askaboutmoney.

But there are lots of other sites where you can discuss property prices.

Brendan

Would anyone would like to compile a list of links to discussions on Irish house prices so that we can redirect people?

Brendan said:

Would anyone would like to compile a list of links to discussions on Irish house prices so that we can redirect people?

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Why not just allow it on this site?
What is the underlying rational for the ban?

The discussion may have been done to death nearly a year ago but so much has changed in that year that surely the discussion needs to be updated.
Although it is possible to look at other sites on the property market most of those consist entirely of people who feel the market is going to fall massively.

Would it not make sense just to allow it here where people can get a more balanced opinion?

Surely people buying/selling houses at the moment deserve to be allowed to discuss the most important financial decision of their life without having to go to other sites where everyone feels the market is going to fall 50% or more.
Advise from those sources probably isn't worth getting!

Re: Is it now possible to discuss house prices on AAM or not?

money man said:

Im delighted that its not allowed. I might be able to return to that section now to read some sensible discussions. Some of the posters on that discussion were ramming their opinions and the discussion became so repetitive that it turned me off. It was a brave decision by Brendan. Thanks.

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There's a forum on boards.ie about the tv show Lost which I find really boring. The show and the forum. So do you know what I do? I just don't look at it. It's pretty simple really.I can understand that it may get boring for the moderators, but it is not right for the biggest financial forum in the country to ban discussion about one of the biggest financial issues in the country.

Thomas22 said:

Would it not make sense just to allow it here where people can get a more balanced opinion?
Advise from those sources probably isn't worth getting!

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I think the list of links provided in this thread are fine. Maybe add boards.ie Accomodation & Property to the list.

"Balanced opinion" is a codeword for not hearing opinions that you don't like. Why not set up your own forum where you can restrict access to only those who believe house prices are going to rise massively?

hmmm said:

I think the list of links provided in this thread are fine. Maybe add boards.ie Accomodation & Property to the list.

"Balanced opinion" is a codeword for not hearing opinions that you don't like. Why not set up your own forum where you can restrict access to only those who believe house prices are going to rise massively?

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I think you misunderstood my point!
My point is why bother bother banning it at all

I would assume that the issue the more rational AAM people have is that there is nothing remotely close to debate on any of the external sites listed. Its just a long list of bears claiming to have been right all along, dancing round the alter of McWilliams and Lee, pouring scorn on every professional with a comment to make. And its completely unmoderated, resulting in complete nonsense-talk (one such site is called The Property Pin for gods sake. great name for what it is, in fairness!).


THAT SAID, I think if the thread was re-opened here, it would simply attract the trolls back again, and I can't imagine the mod's want that hassle. I wouldn't.

paddyd said:

pouring scorn on every professional with a comment to make. And its completely unmoderated, resulting in complete nonsense-talk

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My suspicion is that some posters here have an agenda to try and shut down discussion of house prices. Again, those same trolls as you describe them have been proved correct while the so called professionals have been proved wrong.