Estate agents will tell you London is the key indicator for the rest of the country when it comes to property.
And sure, the capital HAS seen the bulk of price rises in the last year.
But they’re not telling you the true story.
For example, right now the centre of Manchester is a property landmine that could blow in up in our face at any moment... with disastrous repercussions for the rest of the country.
Let me explain why...
Take a walk through Manchester today and it’s awash with empty shells of property... commercial, flats and residential houses... utterly unlettable... many unsaleable.
The Government would never highlight this, but their own figures show...
- Three in every 50 homes across the city are empty...
- 7,179 homes have been empty for six months or more with a total of 13,251 empty homes across the city...
- And the Greater Manchester area has 26,970 homes empty for more than six months
It’s not only Manchester... it’s other major cities too, including Leeds and London. In fact, at last count there were 750,000 empty houses in Britain!
What’s this got to do with you? And what does it mean for UK house prices in 2010?
Here’s the thing...
It shows this ‘recovery’ in the property market hasn’t been caused by a surge in demand OR a shortfall in supply.
Instead, record low interest rates are easing the burden on overextended borrowers... enabling the owners of these ‘empty shells’ to keep ticking over... while seducing more and more buyers into taking the plunge…
But that’s about to change. Drastically.
And for once, we’re not the only ones who think so...
According to Danny Blanchflower, a former member of the UK’s Monetary Policy Committee:
“House prices have risen by about 6%... But the markets are thinly-traded, and that’s pushed up prices... I don’t believe the data and I think prices will fall a lot.”
We believe house prices won’t just fall... they’ll HALVE and take nigh on a decade doing it.
I’m deadly serious.
From peak to bottom, UK residential and commercial property prices could easily fall an eye-watering 50% before they even begin to truly recover.
When property slumps, GET OUT of these stocks
Of course politicians, the media and house sellers like to talk down this idea.
Why? Because that’s what people want to hear! When people’s houses are worth more they feel richer... they’re more likely to spend their money... and vote the ‘right way’ in the polls.
According to one of the UK’s leading estate agencies, Savills, house prices in the UK are set to RISE by 27% up to 2015... and the National Housing Federation agrees, saying the average house price will reach £274,700 over the next three years.
The mainstream media and industry spokesman always love to be optimistic about house prices.
But we’ve seen this happen before...
“House prices to recover next year,” reported TheTimes on 17 November, 1989... But it took another 7 years for UK property to reach rock-bottom.
Interest rates were cut in each and every one of those years and it didn’t make the blindest bit of difference. By 1996 the average home had lost more than 40% of it value!
Home repossessions went into a tailspin... and personal bankruptcies rocketed...
The same thing could happen again in 2010.
And it could blindside over-zealous buyers who were too quick to believe the rosy outlook handed to them by agents, lenders and politicians.
Thing is... it’s not just the price of ‘bricks and mortar’ this deception will crush...
