Depression in the UK. Is it really that bad?

[kbhogalW126]

Jambo All!

I've been working in East Africa since August hence my lack of contribution to the Forum.

My apologies to those of you who have missed me.

Probably no-one . . . . . ..

Anyways, i've been reading how depressing it is back in Blighty etc etc.

Is it really that bad?

When i left construction companies had sacked about 10000 people.

Has it really got worse for the man on the street or is it merely the media hyping it all up?

It would be interesteing to know as I may be coming back for a month in Spring 2009 to sort out my affairs.

Would be interesting to know.

Anyways, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and :bannana: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!:bannana:


Regards,

KJ

 

[rf065]

When i left construction companies had sacked about 10000 people.

Has it really got worse for the man on the street or is it merely the media hyping it all up?

The construction industry has all but shut down completely, the housing market is the same. No-one is buying houses or cars as the banks are in such a mess that they will not give out loans or mortgages. And no-one has any idea if this is just short term or likely to be a prolonged episode.

Russ

 

[lynall]

Yep tis not good plenty of hypo though.

Where i work we repair trucks and as you know everything is carried on trucks at some point.

People stilll having the servicing done as its law, but holding back on the repairs, for an example Argos have stood up 20 of there trucks through lack of work.

Went to sort out mortgage month ago ish pita told to come back in a few weeks and it was as simple as the last time



Lynall

 

[e55]

I am in financial services in London. The job market is dead.
Theres a few companies taking the opportunity to hire the best people at the moment but there are so many candidates. Day rates have dropped about 30% and salaries have also dropped.

All our budgets have been reduced and its going to be tough next year.
I have several friends who have worked in the City for 10 years or so and they cannot find work. They hope to find something in February or march next year if they are lucky. Otherwise it will be a long year

 

[fyonn]

I work for the DWP (which includes the jobcentre) and certainly the number of people wanting to sign-on has leapt significantly, but that said, the world is still moving on. Having been in Manchester recently, it certainly didn't feel like no-on had any money to spend, as town was heaving with consumers.

The new car buying market has felt quite a hit, as for second hand cars and even houses (as shude and I were discussing last night). They're mostly not selling because they're not the right price. the market has dropped prices fairly low in quite a few areas and the people selling aren't selling them for low enough.

I'd not be averse to buying a house soon, but things are still above my budget. that said, I did remortgage recently, the bank had no qualms and gave me a significantly better rate than I was on before (though they did agree the mortgage before the interest rates dropped recently).

so it's swings and roundabouts... the sale of video games has gone through the roof I believe

dave

 

[peterg1965]

Agree ref house prices... BUT... by dropping more and more people will find themselves in negative equity. This will mean that they are unable/unwilling to sell, which further reduces house sales and the amount of 'affordable' housing stock available for sale.

 

[verytalldave]

On the whole, the answer has to be yes. Some sectors are hit more than others. Housing, car sales, banking to name but three. Nobody seems to know what the answer is, and to be honest, I dont know IF there even is an answer.

 

[Dieselman]

Some sectors are hit more than others. Housing, car sales, banking to name but three. Nobody seems to know what the answer is, and to be honest, I dont know IF there even is an answer.

Those sectors were enjoying fantastic boom time as a result of easy credit, this is just a market correction.
After the correction it will business as usual...that means as it used to be 10-15 years ago, not the over credited last few years.

If one was to look at the economic picture over a longer period then we would still be in a boom time compared to the long term average.

 

[Howard]

Speaking to my pal the estate agent last night , last month was terrible , his branch sold one house .

Figures this month are picking up again , eight sold this month , all half mill jobbies ...

Perhaps it's just this area .....

 

[fuzzer]

ignoring the media , its life as normal.

House prices only affect you if you are intending to move, i don't get the facination people have with them.

If you didnt pay over the odds for the house in the first place there is nothing to be worried about.

 

[Dieselman]

Figures this month are picking up again , eight sold this month , all half mill jobbies ...

Perhaps it's just this area .....

No. Expensive properties are going like wild fire round here. A friend sold hers in a day (2 seperate offers), one down the road from me was gone in a week and the super dooper 'spensive ones are being snapped up as soon as they are on the market.

 

[Howard]

We've got a £2.5 mill one a few doors down from our place that has been on the market for months .... ok , it needs a refurb , but it's just not shifting ...

The basic stuff seems to be selling well ...

My mate just picked up a house for £500k that was advertised for £650k 3 months ago. He's chuffed.

 

[gIzzE]

The whole market is on its ****.

I'm in retail and we are around 8% down on the year, which is pretty good.
We also have a footwear agency too, and speaking to other retailers some or 30% or more down, because of this they are seriously behind on paying suppliers (like us). They will clear stock in the sale we're sure, but the problem is this bills needed to be paid in October, allowing us to start production for Spring.
If we didn't have the money to cover this, like many haven't, we would have gone bust, as many have.
We usually borrow £500k this time of year to take advantage of early payment discounts, but the bank said the money just isn't there, they offered £165k, a big drop.

I have seen 15% of my suppliers go bust in the last month because of the above.

Mercedes UK are in seriously trouble, they are £300m in the red purely on the guaranteed future values they have coming back this year (in other words they are buying cars back in for £300m more than they are worth, ouch!) and they have another £300m worth of un-registered cars sat in fields that need paying for too.


Then you have housing, it's collapsed, this talk of 10-15% drop is absolute crap!
I reckon they have dropped 30-40% already.
Ours was valued at £325k when we remortgaged in Jan, and I reckon we would be lucky to get £200k for it at the moment.
There was a house down the road that we got the details on back in Jan that had dropped from £425k to £375k, that same house is now on at £295k and still hasn't sold. Speaking to the agent, who I know, he is saying that they owe slightly more than that so they can't drop any more than that.
He said that if it wasn't for his rental business there would be no business.


Problem is, unless you are management working in retail, housing, logistics, manufacturing etc. you are not really going to know just how bad it is until you get called in to the office to be made redundant.
I bet most workers don't know their companies profit and loss and whether they are cash rich enough to ride things out.

It is bad, and far worse than most realise.

 

[Howard]

A sweeping statement ...

As i said in a previous post , in this area , houses are starting to sell again .

I have another friend who owns a removal company , and they have barely broken stride ...

 

[Dieselman]

We've got a £2.5 mill one a few doors down from our place that has been on the market for months .... ok , it needs a refurb , but it's just not shifting ...

They have an answer for that round here....

 

[gIzzE]

ignoring the media , its life as normal.

You don't seriously believe that do you??

What line of work are you in??

House prices only affect you if you are intending to move, i don't get the facination people have with them.

No they don't.

If your house is now worth less than you owe on it, which I would imagine is probably far more than the owners realise (but the banks so!) it makes you have a very different attitude to spending.

Loosing your job and selling your house and down sizing to see you through is one thing.

Loosing your job and realising that you have to loose any redundancy money, sell all your assets and then be made bankrupt meaning your are buggered for the next 7 years is something completely different.

And I bet that is the position for 5 million home owners at the moment.

 

[rf065]

A sweeping statement ...

As i said in a previous post , in this area , houses are starting to sell again .

I have another friend who owns a removal company , and they have barely broken stride ...

Your area must be unique, even the estate agents shops up here have To Let signs on them. All of the estate agent workers have been paid off, all the sales offices on building sites are shut, houses are not selling.

Russ

 

[Howard]

I know our area pretty well , and have a quite a few pals who are estate agents , we've seen the loss of just one agency ( Mann Countrywide ) , all the others are still there.

They've trimmed down the workforce here and there , but by and large houses are selling round here , so they tell me.

We have a new development on the other side of the Park that is being sold off ( flats ) and they are not selling as well as they would like , but the victorian houses ( which is what our area predominantly is ) are selling ok . Not at the prices that they were 2 years ago , for sure , but they are still selling.

 

[Dieselman]

Problem is, unless you are management working in retail, housing, logistics, manufacturing etc. you are not really going to know just how bad it is until you get called in to the office to be made redundant.
I bet most workers don't know their companies profit and loss and whether they are cash rich enough to ride things out.

It is bad, and far worse than most realise.

As Howard says, that's a very sweeping statement. Retail and houses are particularly affected but other parts of the building trade are not.
The reason retail and houses are affected is because easy credit has gone and they were in a boom period due to the credit.

A lot of companies are still doing well as a result of good fiscal management previously, yours is actually an example by the sound of it.

We are presented with our figures and have just completed our best ever years trading and are very busy.

 

[Dieselman]

We have a new development on the other side of the Park that is being sold off ( flats ) and they are not selling as well as they would like

Flats are dead in the water unless very special indeed. There has been massive oversupply and contrary to lifestle marketing people don't really want to live in the inner city flat environment.