Monday 5 January 2009

Kirsty and Phil confront the housing crash

This evening, I had my annual fifteen minutes of watching Kristy and her horror show – Location, Location, Location. That is just about all I can take of this dreadful property ramping show.

Still, it was nice to see old Phil trying to bargain down a seller who was in housing crash denial. The show featured a couple who wanted to buy a dreary little house for ₤150,000, but the seller insisted on ₤180,000. However, Phil wasn’t terribly persuasive. He could convince the seller that the market had fundamentally shifted and that the seller might bitterly regret not accepting this offer in 12 months time when the market has tanked another 15 percent.

However, I had to laugh at Kirsty’s “cold hard look at the housing market numbers.” She studiously avoided any mention of the double digit declines. Instead, she looked for the remaining housing hotspots. Hartlepool is leading the charge with a five percent house appreciation over the last year.

Well, Hartlepool is the town where a shipwrecked monkey was once mistaken for French spy and hanged. We shouldn’t be to surprised if the same town now mistakes a housing crash for a bubble.

Phil’s final speech was pure nostalgia; it was all about Britain as a small island, a growing population and housing shortages

Dream on, Phil.

12 comments:

marksany said...

But they were great on the Sunday night project. Working on a new career, I suppose.

John McClane said...

Sarah Beeny, Kirsty & Phil have a lot to answer for. What was that type of show called? Property porn or something.

When Mrs McClane got fed up of Changing Rooms she'd go to the property ladder or location, location, location.

I told her, there'll be tears before bedtime.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, the monkey hangers. Hartlepool is a place where if you stuck a red rosette on on a cardboard cutout they'd elect it as MP. The name Peter Mandelson ring any bells? I rest my case.

Anonymous said...

Both Kirstie and Sarah need to drop the property porn and get into real porn: both women are nicely stacked and would do more good for mankind by getting horizontal.

Fred said...

Delusion 1:
Without a fresh supply of housing credit the housing market is going down whatever, whatever. It's a banking thing not a property thing.

Delusion 2:
There are lots of things I'd love to have - but that's private desire which is very different from market demand.

Delusion 3:
Supply and demand arguments ignore inconvenient things. Firstly the level of empty places already, secondly the many foreigners going home as jobs dry up. Finally there is the truth that even a mild swing back from the trend towards smaller households WILL slacken demand drastically.

The frightening thing is that if anyone can make a worse mess of the property sector than New Labour then Kirsty would be a strong candidate. Guess what - she is an advisor to the Conservatives on housing matters. It's absurd beyond the soaps.

Anonymous said...

No wonder they made the monkey Mayor of Hartlepool

Electro-Kevin said...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fM8HY_1jhKI

I think this says all we need to know about Kirstie Alsop.

No talent. Just a rather silly person with lots of luck who helped greatly in the demise of our country.

Anonymous said...

I love Kirstie's giggly boobs though, and as for Beenie, she looks like a good ride. But the damage these women did to the country, wow!. It blows out of the water Germaine Greer's babblings about how it is only men that do evil things.

Anonymous said...

It is a mistake to confuse a high population density with market potential. After all - some of the poorest regions in the World are the most highly populated.

Nick von Mises said...

Yudansha, are you telling me the Gaza strip isn't an up-and-comer then?

Anonymous said...

No, Nick. Apparently the housing in Gaza is slumping too.

Anonymous said...

Sarah Beeny comes across as extremely sensible and professiobally advises amateur developers from her experience and in a cautious manner, taking into account that the property market fluctuates considerably. Kirsty and Phil on the other hand have been urging people to get on the property ladder since the beginning of the boom in 2004. They have put the message across that if you don't buy you will miss the boat and never get the chance to buy a house at this level again, how wrong were they??? Also, renting does make sense for some people, it shouldn't be described as 'dead money' as it often makes sense to rent, much better that buying at the top of the market! What amazes me is that people still watch Kirsty and Phil and give them respect, they've given bad advice and have a lot to answer for - get them off our tv screens!