Now that most businesses have joined the commentators in claiming they saw the crash coming, why didn’t they act? Because they have lived through enough crises they thought they could cope.
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It was only last spring we were being told house prices were down 18 per cent on the year: now the rate of inflation is about to become plus 10 per cent. A hidden housing boom is underway.
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The stamp duty holiday on home purchases ends at the new year, but did it work? And if it did, should it be extended?
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Home Information Packs – Hips – were introduced as the housing market turned down, but it would be wrong to blame them for the house price slump. And it would be equally wrong for the Conservative Party to scrap them just because they were a Labour idea.
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Corporate governance codes make much of non-executives’ independence nowadays – so it is surprising to see one of our biggest property companies putting a director of one of its biggest customers on its board.
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Forget Madoff. The biggest ponzi scheme of recent years has been the world housing market.
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Governments think if they help the few borrowers unable to pay their bills they will help relieve the banking crisis. What they’ll do is encourage lots more to default and thus make the crisis worse.
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There’s nothing new in reporting bad news about the housing market, so here’s the DoF guide on how to spot green shoots.
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Of course retailers don’t like paying their rent three months in advance - many of them are not sure they’ll still be in business in three months’ time. But a lease is a contract and it’s too late to tear it up now.
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