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All looks a bit concentrated to me, but good luck to you that it all pays off.

Also how commercial banks work. 97% of currency comes from commercial banking under instruction from the central bank to lend it into specified areas.

London was like that back end of 2022, a real shortage. Places going straightaway, stupid amounts of people looking, rents rose fast - at the peak maybe a flat could achieve 50% more than it did a few years before, especially at the bottom end. The numbers of properties to rent have doubled since then so things have fallen back. There is a building near me next to a train station where flats would disappear in a day, the high tide for listing prices was around £2,200 but none have achieved that has has drifted incrementally to £1800 now. (still more compared to the £1500 before pandemic). The cure for high prices is high prices though. I do wonder why the properties to rent went up so much and I think its a combo of the high prices tempting people to rent their homes, failed sellers changing to accidental landlords, and BTR. Anyway if those rents are sustainable then why wouldn't someone stick up a big block of flats? But you probably don't need a load of properties to swing the market back from shortage to surplus.

I’m largely allocated across PM miners; telecoms; consumer goods; financials; energy plus some random stuff that I think is good value. I need to rebalance in the next few days, and I probably have too many individual stocks, but this is what I currently hold. SIPP: House buying account (only shows the top 20 holdings, I have a few more). ISA:

I don't think our houses are quite full enough yet. We have done the pebbles in the glass, and the sand, and are on to the water. But we are very, very close to the overflow point, then anything could happen.

Might be that nobody has the balls to be the first to start doing it in case the public turns on them. But it seems like a natural next step of the wealth divide. To be fair there's already a decent premium in NI to live in what are seen as 'middle class' areas.

Not to my knowledge.

I'm actually surprised that hasn't happend - I'm assuming there's some UK law to prevent that happening at the moment.

Agreed. It is sort of unofficial at the moment, but not for much longer. The big thing here is to offer 12 months upfront.

My daughters were getting into bidding wars in londonistan a year ago.

It is only a matter of time before rentals go to sealed bids, or 'offers over'. Then prices can go to the moon. And it will happen almost overnight when the tipping point is reached.

It really depends on how desperate people are. I never had to live in a house-share (apart from living with my folks), so I guess the fall back position is a house-share. I think this is already true for many single people, I'm lucky really I never had to settle for a house-share. The other fallback that I think happens more and more is that people just don't leave home full stop. I think there's more and more 25-30 year olds who just never get to leave home, because they know all they can afford is a house share or to spend the majority of their income on rent and never save a bean, and they think (correctly, if their parents aren't totally unbearable to live with) that it's a better deal just to live with the folks. A couple of my collegues are late 50's early 60's with 3 kids each and none of the kids have ever left home yet. You'll see more and more of this I think especially in young folk who are single. If a min wage couple takes home £3400 a month then sadly you probably can charge them about £2000 a month rent and many will sacrifice a lot to pay it just to have their own place.

Mine has gone up almost 50% in just over three years.

Good point. To be fair…..everything looks cheap (eg, utilities, new cars, dining out) compared to a new build house 😂😂 Small 3 bed semis in our town built say in the 1960’s are roughly 900 sq ft and cost £225/£250k. Big garden, nice established areas near schools and shops etc New builds are on tiny plots and 750 sq ft. Also often 2 miles out of town on a ‘estate’ with daft layouts easy to get lost in, no shops or schools etc. To be absolutely fair the new builds are cleverly designed ie smaller hallway to allow open dining kitchen and patio doors, small downstairs wc sneaked in and third bedrooms are often bigger by taking a bit from the other 2 bedrooms……but are £325k. Key is in 10 years time I know which will be worth the most….and it’s not the new builds. Still…..as per this thread, we see some daft probate prices. The worse I ever saw was Around 15 years ago. A probate bungalow on at £189k on for 3.5 years due to a son in law (ie the daughters husband of the deceased) demanding a high price. The had offers but declined…..and it just sat there with no viewings as th3 market softened even further. The son in law had tarted it up and put an awful cheap kitchen in….but it still oozed probate due to bathroom, garden, carpets etc. wasn’t even his own mums house and there were other kids of the deceased. I think the chap was a bit of a bully…..all aged around 65/70 waiting for their inheritance. His wife (ie the daughter of the mum who died) actually died after 3 years and the other 2 siblings were furious they had all messed around for so long and then put in on for £169k and sold it.

Interview: You Need Two Years Worth Of Food | Armstrong Economics Armstrong explained, “I think the US could default on its debt as early as 2025, but probably in 2027. We have kicked the can down the road as far as we can go. It’s not just in the United States. Europe is in the same boat. So is Japan. This is why they need war. They think by going into war, that’s the excuse to default on the debt. They simply will not pay China. If they try to sell their debt–good luck. We are not redeeming it.

BAT, GDXJ, SEDY GDXJ has grown by 100% by trading in and out since 20. BAT I've dip fed. SEDY I filled up on at the low of 1140; It's the riskiest one, I think, due to geopolitical risks. GDXJ is a one way bet now. It has to be due to the global fiat pressures; I'm up 36% as of today on the average price paid. Written elsewhere that one is for selling at tranches as it goes up BAT - I plan on living to 83 and getting 30 years dividends. SEDY - Another one to sell out of in tranches. Up 11% on bought price, plus the divvies are nice of course. I am expecting more global cabal/government fuckery to try to impoverish me and mine; I am lower middle classish, which is the target 100% for western governments including here in Australia. So I have to gamble a bit to keep ahead of the bastards, is my view. And if I lose it all? Then I devote my energies to working out how to access the moolah from government schemes. As an example: https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook-Labor-Government/Cost-of-living-relief-payments-for-more-than-5,000-WA-families-20231214 the more you fuck up your life, the more they will give you. where you don't want to be is have a little money, enough to dequalify for help, but not enough to live well. So it's gamble time. DYOR, not financial advice, natch.

Maybe but that would be racist. The bar for sanctioning South Africa is almost uniquely high. I wouldn't have a double figure percentage invested in SA but I don't rule it out entirely.

Trashed by the judges. Uk public voted for Isreal 12 pts. Be fascinated to see other country results

China will respond with identical tarrifs on Apple and Tesla products.

Contrarily Report: Saudi Arabia Plans to Get African Countries “Hooked” on Fossil Fuels | Truthout Saudi Arabia Confirms Boom Supersonic Investment | Aviation Week Network Frankly I dont think there is much logic to a lot of what the Saudis do. They are still a bunch of parochial shepherd boys with a lot of money & no idea of what to do with it.

There is no political solution. It is lockstep across the West and will be until the first politicians are hung from lampposts by piano wire.

Only for a very brief period, when people were buying shotguns n beans rather than houses.

They’re a member of UEFA too. Basically all the countries around them hate them, so they are a part of Europe.