The British media caused the bank and housing crash in the UK as much as the americans did with their subprime mess.

If the media hadn't caused such a huge panic, Northern Rock wouldn't have collapsed. If they hadn't gone on and on about how bad the housing market was, they wouldn't have affected the general consciousness and made people wary about buying properties, thus reducing the sales and forcing house prices down.

^^ I agree, omro. If Media didn't freak out about stuff, the general public wouldn't freak out, and we wouldn't be in such a mess.

The fact that people think they have to spend less is what's hurting the economy, but in reality, we are able to spend just as much as we could in the past... aslong as it's done responsibly.

I hate that people think we need to save every penny since the world's ending. Go about how you lived your lives over the last several years and everything will be fine.

Here in Canada the media is run by a very exclusive non-diversified group.

no offense, but that's horrible advice.
The best advice for all of us is to get out of debt, start living within your means and be careful where your investments lie.

True RTH, but sometimes that is easier said then done when people aren't getting pay raises to go along with the inflation that seems to keep going up and up all the time.

I really don't think there is much to worry about have a little debt. Especially in Hamilton where housing prices are reasonable, it's quite manageable to service the debt with a decent job. I mean you can afford a house on a single 40k income in a whole bunch of areas in Hamilton.

Of course this doesn't mean getting into the US' mess by taking out 103% mortgages and spending the money on expensive goods.

Even though home prices aren't insane in Hamilton, I still think they're overpriced. I've seen way too many homes that were priced at 240k only 5 years ago which are now valued at 360k. A 120k increase in price for a home that has gone through minimal upgrades in a neighbourhood that has seen no changes is too fast/too soon.

Prices are dropping though and with the economy the way it is (and getting worse) and the news of mortgage rates increasing - it should drop even further. I shouldn't have to wait much longer for a reasonably priced home I believe (or at least I hope).

most definitely. I understand it's not easy. I just didn't like DC's tone suggesting that people 'live like you always have' and don't worry about it. I personally think that's a recipe for disaster.

And I see his point, example of spending like $40,000 plus on a car and a huge house. For most people that can take a lifetime to pay off. And with so many job layoffs and companies closing then a person can be up the creek without a paddle if they do lose their job. IMO this is why I didnt want to see free trade, as I saw a lot of jobs going out the window which has turned out to be true so far.

It was probably the flippers and the realtors being greedy, as all the media (them people again) were wittering on about how great Hamilton would be for Toronto commuters, as they could buy twice as much for half the price. However, the demand from the higher paid Toronto commuters isn't there yet. However, as soon as the James North station is in place and the 45min commute is a reality. The flippers will try again.

My advice, if you're going to buy somewhere, try and buy it before the new station opens. I've seen areas in London literally double in value within 2 years of a new station being opened. Not that that's applicable globally, but better transport links will translate into a house price rise of some kind in the neighbourhoods closest to them.

I took DC's comment to mean:

Don't live as if the media's hype is the gospel truth.

If people had ignored the media in the UK and carried on as they were, instead of panicking and ripping their money out of Northern Rock and saying "well, we've been told house prices are going to fall, so let's sit tight and wait for them to fall", Northern Rock wouldn't have collapsed, the mortgage market wouldn't have collapsed from the lack of people wanting to buy houses and house prices wouldn't have dropped due to the lack of demand.

What could and should have happened is that the mortgage companies would have realised they were in a spot of bother, tightened up their practices so that fewer high risk loans were issued and kept a close eye on their existing high risk loans. The housing market would have suffered a slight, but not alarming correction, perhaps a gradual price reduction over time, rather than dropping off a cliff-face, and there wouldn't have been a ripple effect of unemployment within the highly paid and high spending banking sector.

All in all, most people are a herd and believe everything they read in the media and react accordingly. When the media says house prices are going to crash, the herd makes it so.

DC is bang on in that regard.
I would go a step further - don't ever do anything based on anything you read/see in the media. EVER.

Long-term mortgage rates went up last week, but now many are expecting short term to drop.

http://thespec.com/News/Business/article/442046

Note, this is only speculation and has been predicted before recently only to have BoC Governor Mark Carney surprise the 'experts'.

I went to a real estate conference on Saturday. They choose to specialize on Hamilton. They had someone from the city of Hamilton there and they had a presentation on the future transit plans in the city.

You may be familiar with them - they are the organization that releases the top ten towns to invest in.

Anyway, lots of upbeat investors afterwords.

who was the group at the conference??

A unit sold here in the Annex last week on the 3rd floor for 190,000 in one day. That's unheard of up to this point.

Neil Everson was the rep from Hamilton. Real Estate Investment Network was the organization.

Wow that is a respectable price!

Yeah - Move downtown already - the suburbs are boring.

As greenland drys up in the GTA detached and semi housing developers are looking more at Hamilton. Hopefully though we could get hi rise developers as well.

My neighbors house just sold. It only took 2 weeks on the market with no open houses. What can I say, a decent house that is priced right will sell in any market I guess.

Of course not everyone has this kind of good fortune, there's a house at the end of my street that started at $299 999 at the begining of summer, has dropped down to $275 000 and is still sitting on the market.

It seems like houses over $250 000 are just not moving very fast.