This response is completely true to form. You vindicate everything I originally said. Your only recourse is to personal attack.
Perhaps you should extend your perjorative ranting to calling me a fanatical jihadist or some other rubbish. You have not produced one iota of balanced view, nor addressed the fact of oversupply, falling demand and continued falling prices.
You make money from people buying houses and to consider that your view is in anyway balanced and not vested is completely disingenuous. It is akin to having Seany Fitz suggesting that there is no conflict with him running the Regulators office.
At this point, I am going to bow out of the 'discussion'.
Bow out after offering nothing in the way of a balanced discussion . . .
I simply tried out lowering my level to yours by ignoring any valid points you made, while fun, its less satisfying then accepting other points and discussing them further.
You dont actually reply to any of my points, you simply just call them bias and just throw out other disjointed facts or points that you couldnt even properly discuss. (kinda like Mary Coughlin, shes great at reading off a pre made statement but ask her to delve deeper on her views and she hasnt a clue).
And by the way those Daft figures are based on the national average house price falling from €344,000 to €281,000 since the peak in 2007. This is only a 19% drop in value. I have been talking about factoring in between 40% - 60% decrease in house values. Some of the statistics available havent even fully factored in my "positive try to get everybody to splash out on property" predictions. What people ask for and what they should realistically expect are two totally differant things . . .
If you actually understood my posts you would see that I wasnt simply saying "alls well, buy buy buy". But then again Im not saying, put your money under your mattress, close all the doors, trust nobody and pray for the love of god that this recession doesnt kill you . . .
The very fact that some people have replied here, who arent EA's or MB's, looking positively at the housing sector, (which you dont even awknowledge) only further debunks your delusional V.I theory that other doom and gloom merchants prescribe to.
The truth is , Things are bad right now. Things could be bad for the next couple of years. House prices, realistically have gone down more then even todays statistics have shown. There are very very good deals out in the marketplace right now. Predicting a House price collapse (if you accept that 40% value decrease is not the tip of the iceberg) is simply scaremongering. It is always a possibility but is DEFINANTLY not a probobility.
There is a huge demand for houses, but not enough money in the banks to meet this demand. There are a huge amount of houses for sale because people cant get money. People are also afraid to buy because of what their neighbours are saying about the end of the world "economics" style. They forget that markets and economies have gone through recessions and crashes before, and have eventually recovered.
Builders have cut down dramitically the new houses they are building. People have cut down on expenses they dont need. People will , in this country, sooner save for a deposit on a family house, then save for a car.
Unemployment is going up hugely, as companies are preparing themselves for tough times ahead. This is actually a good thing long term because these companies are factoring in the bad times now and our economy can bring out measures sooner to try to get other jobs into the country. (note for simpletons - No Im not saying unemployment is good) . These negative things need to happen before markets can recover.
But notice that everything points to companies, governments and property markets factoring in all the bad things (in fact over factoring them in) to try to help us get over this crisis quicker.
Times are tough and could get tougher. How we recover will depend an awful lot on how the U.S. and E.U recover as a country.
By all means, continue to save if you are worried about the state of the country and dont want to take the plunge or risk that house prices could continue to drastically drop. Buying a house at anytime is stressful. My house has lost alot of its value (at least a third) and is in negative equity. In hindsight of course I wouldnt of bought it had I known this would happen, but I have a job and can afford the repayments and wasnt planning on moving for many years.
Nobody knows for sure what is going to happen, one economist will say we are near the worst of the property crash, another might say this is just the beginning.
Am I upset . . Of Course . . .
Do I lose sleep over it . . Honestly no because its more important for me to keep my job so I can afford it and anyways, its only worth something when I am looking to sell it.
If I was buying today I would consider it a tough one to call. Should I view todays prices as a bargain in comparison to what people paid at the top of the bubble . . Or . . . do I say I am "catching a falling Knife" and that prices will PLUMMIT further. Thats a personal decision that only individuals can make after weighing up their personal desires with the information that they have and how they interpret it, regarding the current economic troubles.