Not the famous Arthur Miller play, but a reflection on the state of the nation.

Despite the government not wanting to define the economic slowdown officially as a recession, if you talk to people in a wide range of industries many will tell you that they are beginning to feel the pinch, none more so than in the housing industry.

Property transactions in June 2008 were down some 90% on the same period last year and mortgage lending is at an all time low. Estate agent’s offices have been closing at a rate of 150 per week, and industry pundits reckon that by the time we come out of this there will be just half the number of agents that there were at the beginning of 2007.

It’s not just the barrow boys & franchise operations that are disappearing either, there are some fine old firms that have been around since the dawn of time closing their doors too.

The building industry has pretty much downed tools and if the current decline continues there is little chance that the government will be able to achieve its target of 240,000 new builds per annum for the next 10 years.

New 58 plate car registrations are down by 20% on last year and we know a few car dealers who haven’t sold a car of any description for weeks.

The measures announced by Darling this week are little more than window dressing and seem to have had little or no effect. Raising the stamp duty threshold will only serve to distort house prices at that level and the offer of free loans to first time buyers is a nonsense if mortgage lenders have not bought in to the concept and agreed to back it.

Death of a salesman ? Probably. Death of a whole industry ? Quite possibly.

We’re all browned off Gordon - do the decent thing and resign and take your chancellor with you.

The scene outside our office windows this morning resembles the set of Blade Runner, all we need is for some big German bloke to walk in through the wall & the scene will be complete.

Will it ever stop raining ??? Although I guess the weather does to some extent sum up the national mood.

On a lighter note, check out a little known Stafford band called ‘ The Adventure Babies ‘ for their take on the ‘ Great British Weather ‘

With buffoon number 1 on vacation on the East coast one notices that it has been left to buffoon number 2 to continue the trend of fouling up the housing market. Since dear Darling Alastair alluded to a possible change in stamp duty on Radio 4’s today programme last week - the 3 people in Britain who were possible going to buy a house during August have decided to wait to see what happens !

Just what the market needs - property transactions at an all time low - 17,000 in June 08, compared with 160,000 in June 07 - and a chancellor who can’t even answer a relevant question with a straight ‘ Yes ‘ or ‘ No ‘.

Sounds odd, doesn’t it - but we’re starting to see it more and more often … developers looking to off-load property are offering deals whereby you pay 75% of the purchase price, they put up the remaining 25% and ask you to pay that off over the next 5-10 years - at an interest rate that is either 0% or at the very least considerably lower than the going mortgage rate.

The advantages of this - apart, obviously, from having to stump up the full amount - include the chances that you’ll get a much better mortgage deal if you’re only having to finance 75% of the property’s value. Your ‘loan to value’ % is significantly lower, making you a more attractive proposition as a mortgage customer.

It’s all very interesting but I know what you’re thinking: where’s the catch? Well, it’s relatively catch free. However, the additional loan from the developer does need to be paid off - and if it can’t be paid off, then you may have to sell your home and give them their % that way. But that’s still a pretty good deal.

You can read more about it here. Well worth looking at for people attempting to take those first steps on the ladder.

Just when you thought all hope was lost and that we might all have to take responsibility for our over borrowing, Evan Davis pops up and gives us someone to blame. And who better (or more likely) than the good old Media.

It’s true. Over reporting the good times lead to a feel good surge … hiding the upcoming bad times meant the shock / panic has been all the greater - oh, it feels so good to displace responsibility! Thank you Evan!

wise words indeed…there must be lots of people out there wishing they had remembered their Shakespeare & taken heed of the advice given by Polonius to his son Laertes in the great bard’s Hamlet. Not least the banks !

Not so long ago they were caught up in the lending feeding frenzy - encouraging us all to borrow, borrow, borrow….and now it’s a complete about-turn, with all but the most sqeaky clean customers finding it more difficult to borrow - mortage lending is down by 56% on this time last year.

And where do the government fit in to all this ? Surely someone, somewhere must have been able to see the potential consequences of this out of control lending ?

Whatever happened to the basic lending criteria of 2½x income with a 10% deposit ??? Sensible, affordable lending - which would also keep house prices in check.

So - need some advice - don’t talk to the bank or your mates - read Shakespeare !

Okay - that’s an odd question to ask - we’re a property website after all … but it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

I watched the BBC Panorama program a couple of weeks ago (encouragingly titled ‘How Not To Lose Your Home’) and it got me thinking that there’s probably an awful lot of people out there who are in trouble but a) don’t know how they got there, and that b) don’t know how best to get out of it again.

The two things that really struck me after watching it are:

- ‘mortgages are for grown ups’. I know this sounds patronising, I don’t mean it to be. But come on. If you’re borrowing over £100,000 to fund the purchase of your home - and most of us are - then read the small print. That’s one hundred, thousand pounds. If you’re getting a sub-prime loan at something like 8% and the loan is variable then you simply have to - HAVE TO - understand what will happen to those payments if you miss one. They’ll sky-rocket. This doesn’t make you a criminal - although, as the program illustrated, you may get treated like one. In most cases, those in this situation are doing all they can to make the payments, they simply can’t afford to. Don’t get in this situation. If you’re borrowing money to buy a house you need to understand what will happen to you and the payments if you struggle making them regularly.

- ‘it’s okay not to own a house‘. I know we’ve had the ‘buy a house now!’ mantra drummed into us since Maggie T was at number 10, but seriously: it’s okay to rent. There was a couple on the program who were trying their hardest to buy a bigger house, but no matter what they tried to do - no matter where they looked for the money - it was just going to be an increasing burden on their already stretched wallets. Well, you know what: rent. It’s okay, say it with me: rent. If you’re paying a mortgage, but the value of the mortgaged property is decreasing (market factors) then not only are you losing equity each month, but you’re doing worse than if you were paying rent (where your financial well being is not tied into the value of the property at all).

So, there we are. Read the small print and think about renting. Not a big deal really, but it surely could save a lot of heartache in this market.

rightmove - the industry leading property website, may be heading for tougher times. The cost of having your properties on the site is not insignificant and rumour is rife that many agents are considering pulling out as the pressure builds on advertising & marketing budgets.

It appears also that their shareholders are getting a bit edgy, with Hbos, rightmove’s second largest shareholder selling its 13% stake recently.

Andy Murray seems to have got off to a good start at Wimbledon. So, do we claim him as our own ?

No doubt so long as he wins he will be British, but if he loses he will be Scottish !

A interesting article about the HIP speeding up the house sale transaction process. Of course a more cynical perspective on this would be that because of the sharp decrease in the volume of property sales, that solicitors & conveyancers simply have more time to get the job done efficiently.