News item taken from
www.housepricecrash.co.uk

First vulture fund circles home repossession market By David Campbell
22 April 2008
Ref:
www.citywire.co.uk/personal/-/news/money-property-and-tax/content.aspx?ID=301494

About £100 million in City funding is being sought to back the launch of
the UK’s first vulture fund to specialise in repossessed residential
property.

Property group Assetz is negotiating with property fund managers to back
the scheme, and was sourcing repossessed properties at a rate of around
200 a month through bridging finance specialists, private clients and
other agencies, said chief executive Stuart Law.

A spokesman for the FSA said that any business dealing with homeowners at
such a sensitive time could expect to be closely monitored under
principles-based rules. Distressed sub-prime sellers unable to re-finance
were emerging across all property types he added, with the typical
purchasing price around 15% to 20% below recent market value.

Law said these people would need to sell to someone. ‘If they sell to us
they will know that we are FSA-regulated and are bound by due diligence,’
he said. ‘We are seeing some of the dynamics that have been seen in the
commercial property market and unlike sale and leaseback schemes we will
be accountable to sellers.’

Target pricing would produce a rental yield of between 6.5% and 7.5% over
the long term, he added, and would offer a risk-diversified portfolio by
location and asset type.

Repossessions are expected to rise to near 40,000 this year, 45% more than
the 2007 total of 27,100. Assuming an average price of £180,000 this would
produce a potential asset pool worth more than £7 billion pounds.

While prices are expected to fall over the next two years, a margin of 15%
to 20% below recent market value would probably represent the pricing
floor, said Capital Economics property economist Calvin Davidson.

‘That does represent decent value. We expect a lot of house prices to fall
beyond that but as a national average there would be support for prices at
that level,’ said Davidson.

Assetz has offices based around London ( Berkley Sq ), Manchester and Stockport(Hazel Grove main office?)

 http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=391447&y=386943&z=1&sv=Newby+Road&st=6&tl=Newby+Road,+Hazel+Grove,+Stockport,+Cheshire,+SK7&searchp=newsearch.srf&mapp=newmap.srf

 http://www.assetz.co.uk

SUB PRIME GOVERNMENT cause LAND AND FOOD PRICE INFLATION.

Our Sub prime government unlawfully manipulates the sub prime economy.
Using market power - the Bank of England fixing interest rates and the terms of mortgage lending - and the Treasury policy of manipulating house prices up to put you into debt to stimulate 'the economy' is against the public interest and is unlawful under the 1998 Competition Act..

'Credit Crunch' applied to the financial market is a public relations term invented to disguise and shift the blame for the 'Discreditable Consequences' of the lawbreakers in the Treasury and the Bank of England who use people's housing needs to provide profits for the banks via housing and mortgage inflation.

Blame it on America, not because of mortgage failures there spilling over here, but because Thatcher adopted and Brown followed Joseph Stiglitz' recommendation to substitute a City and debt based economy for the traditional UK people based economy built on work, trade, and manufacture.

'Sub prime' used by the government and the press shifts the blame to 'irresponsible' lenders and shifts even more cash in tanker loads from the public purse to the pockets of those City executives who reward themselves for making paper profits from stressing people's housing needs so we pay the crooks twice.

UK land prices jumped 25% in 2007; Average land cost in Ireland almost
four-times higher than in Britain and the highest in Europe
By Finfacts Team
Apr 15, 2008
Ref: www.finfacts.com/irishfinancenews/article_1012603.shtml

Key Highlights:

* Farmland prices rose by an average of 25.3% in the year to December
2007
* Prices rose by 3.3% in the final quarter of 2007

* Average farmland values increased to £4,316 per acre, up from £3,294
a year ago
* 37% of purchases are made by lifestyle buyers ahead of farmers on 34%
* Demand from purchasers rose by an average of 11%, on a year on year
basis

Prices for UK farmland rose by 25.3% in 2007, with average farmland values
increasing from £3,294 the previous year to £4,316 in 2007, says estate
agents Knight Frank. Irish buyers account for almost half foreign
purchases.In Ireland, the cost of land per acre now averages €20,367
(£15,237).

According to Mark Ashbridge, of Savills Private Finance, 40 to 45% of farm
purchases are now made by lifestyle farmers. Knight Frank puts the figure
at 38%, with only 32% of farm purchases by “genuine” farmers.
Institutional investors (11 per cent), agribusiness (11 per cent) and
developers (6 per cent) account for the rest of the purchases, Knight
Frank says. This mounting interest, combined with a shortage of supply,
has meant increases of up to 40% in the price of UK farmland in 2007.

A report in May 2007 said that the value of Irish farmland was heading for
€60,000 per hectare (€24,281 per acre), the highest in Europe.

According to estate agents Savills Hamilton Osborne King, prices would
rise further in 2007, having increased by 40% on average in 2006.

Clive Hopkins, Head of Farms and Estates at Knight Frank, comments: “It is
clear that the problems facing the wider property markets have not been
felt in the agricultural sector where prices have now risen to an average
of £4,129 an acre. Given the turmoil and the unsettled nature of the
financial markets this represents an astonishing annual increase of 25.3%,
the second highest annual rise on record.

“Over the last quarter of 2007 the trend for growth continued, though at
the more modest rate of 3.3%. While this means the market has now
witnessed seven consecutive quarters of growth it should be noted that
price rises have softened since their peak during the third quarter of
2007 when a 7.8% increase was recorded. The cyclical nature of land
purchase traditionally sees a slower market in the final quarter of the
year.

“As in previous periods the market has been largely driven by
non-agricultural money. Lifestyle buyers continue to be the most active
purchasing sector (37%) as they seek to add value to their properties
while also protecting their immediate outlook. Indications suggest this
trend will continue through 2008, though at a lower rate due to a weaker
outlook for the UK’s high value added business services sector which is
the source of many non-agricultural buyers.

“When lifestyle purchasers act they do so decisively. For example in 2007
we saw two estates of 5,000 acres sell to two individual purchasers, which
underlines the fact that there is private money aimed specifically at the
agricultural market.

“Foreign buyers continue to exert a strong influence on the market with
17.5% of all purchasers coming from overseas. As in previous quarters the
Irish are the most acquisitive, 47%, which is no doubt due to the prices
in the UK being vastly more affordable than those in Ireland where an acre
now averages €20,367 (£15,237).

“As anticipated individual farmers provide the sector’s second most
significant purchasing force with 34% entering the market, driven by
recent increases in commodity prices. In this regard we would point to
the growth of interest in bio-fuels and a trend towards developing
countries adopting western diets.

“Commodity markets responded aggressively to poor harvests caused by
drought in many parts of the globe which resulted in an increased demand
for grain. This resulted in prices for milling wheat rising by over 60%
and feed by over 50% in a 14 month period.

“These prices look firm going into 2008, although this means the livestock
industry is now facing increased feed costs that will place them under
increased financial pressure. With this in mind it is worth noting that
at 62% individual farmers continue to make up the largest vendor group
reflecting the struggle many have with tighter margins and a steadily
ageing farming population attracted by retirement.

“The government’s proposals for changes to capital gains tax rules have
not yet prompted a surge of land coming to the market and with land prices
looking to continue an upward trend perhaps vendors feel comfortable
waiting.

“Looking forward the agricultural market shows little sign of weakening.
With supply limited and demand strong we consider land prices will
increase by 13% over the next 12 months while rents will rise by around
12.5%.

“It is possible that the market for residential farms and estates may come
under pressure from the expected downturn in the residential market next
year. However, the continued imbalance between supply and demand should
mean that high quality farms and estates in sought after areas will
continue to sell well.”


try sorting out an ecovillage now in the UK!

check out the diggers350 yahoo groups list for more info like this