Asking prices in Sevenoaks down 2.8%

I should add that I say all this as a frustrated homeowner who has theoretically benefited from the hyperinflation in housing. Except that I haven't. The myth of the housing "ladder" suggests that one gets on the ladder and smoothly trips to the top in equal steps. The reality is that no matter how high the price of your current house inflates the one that you want to trade up to will have risen more. The rungs on the ladder get further and further away the higher you climb. Add to this the chunk of change the government removes from each sale (for doing what exactly?) and the % fees from the agent who take a few digital photos and whack them up on rightmove and the next rung looks ever more remote. Having paid off my mortgage I'd love to move to a bigger house and accept i'Il need another mortgage except that amount I'll need to make the move worthwhile is obscene. It is possible but it isn't financially sensible and all that is happening is a massive exchange of wealth from those at the bottom of the ladder to those at the very top who finally sell up for cash or to downsize. The machine is now broken but it will take a long time to sink in. When it does it will be better for everyone especially the younger generations currently priced out. I hope that they educate themselves better so that this is never repeated again.

Such a comprehensive and insightful response. I have very little to add but that, begrudgingly, I agree.

I say begrudgingly because - like most people I suspect - I wish it was possible to own my home and for that to be an affordable process that led to me owning a home outright in time for retirement.

The media has brainwashed a receptive public into the misconception that debt is wealth. Very few have benefited at the expense of the majority as house prices and mortgage debt have risen uncontrollably over the past decade. If credit exists then human nature shows that people will borrow the maximum available to them just so long as the cost of servicing that debt is perceived to be manageable and there is a group confidence that the initial price of the asset will not fall.

Banks simply laughed as the public kept coming back over and over to borrow ever increasing sums to buy the same asset each time raising the group perceived value of that asset.

How many people on interest only mortgages think they "own" their home? How many people with mortgages have any comprehension of the interest that they will pay over the term of that mortgage? How many banks advertise the interest that will be paid over the term at an average rate? It is crazy really and a ticking time bomb that the BOE and government is scared silly will go off so rates will stay low as long as the BOE can pretend to be surprised by inflation.

The result of the above is a massive fall in transactions and thus mobility. The gap between sellers expectations and the majority of buyers ability and willingness to pay is going to keep growing until wage inflation fills the gap or house prices come down significantly instead.

The vested interests ie. the speculators, BTLs, agents, developers, government will do everything to keep the bubble inflated as long as possible but in my opinion there can be no "recovery" in the housing market, where by "recovery" I mean rising transactions rather than rising prices, until prices drop to more affordable levels from the bottom of the market to the top.

I agree, Bob. I wonder how much of this is down to estate agents inflating sellers' expectations? As someone not on the housing ladder, the idea of prices dropping and houses becoming more affordable is actually a welcome one, personally... but we shall see what happens!

Some sellers are still dreaming this is 2007. It isn't and the world hs changed. Prices have only just steers to fall. As rates go up 25% drops are probable.