Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Mrs Thatchers was in power from 1979 to 1990.

Manufacturing percentage of GDP 1979 - 17.5 percent
Manufacturing percentage of GDP 1990 - 15.2 percent.

However, by the time Gordon Brown left office manufacturing had dropped to 9.6 percent.

Source - The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/d...hatcher-charts

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Precisely.

Browns govt paid far less attention to boosting manufacturing than did Maggies and instead trusted in the City to keep on laying him golden eggs and we all know what happened there.
Maggie seems to get used as an excuse for all evils yet when the facts are examined it is not always the case.
Look at all the blame heaped on her for mine closures when in actual fact many more mines had already been closed and communities destroyed under the previous Labour govt.

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

I don't think you can blame PM's along party lines. manufacturing declined for a number of reasons but primarily in my opinion as a result of the exploitation of cheap labour overseas.
Having said that the UK still has a considerable manufacturing output although our reliance on the service sector is now much greater.

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

We visited friends at the weekend who bought around eight years ago on a new development, a large one which should have contained well over a thousand houses in safe and luxurious surroundings when it was finished.

Needless to say, it wasn't, around a quarter of it was built before the developer went bankrupt. Our friends are only one of around 20 permanent residents, all trying to get out and get some of their money back, having dropped their price by 70%.

I was blunt with them and pointed out that they could never sell, at any price, what little infrastructure there was has collapsed.

But, to my utter amazement they pointed out that there were still buyers around, mostly Brits who were not aware of the problems in Spain and just wanted a cheap house in the sun. We went to a local bar and they pointed out a couple who had bought a house there only a month ago.

The couple in question looked happy enough and were well pleased with their purchase.

What can you say?

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

The main reason that it's uneconomic to manufacture stuff in the UK is because of the high wages demanded by people working there.
They need high wages because the cost of living is so high. The cost of living is high because house/mortgage costs are high. They are high because there are not enough houses being built in the UK to satisfy demand.
If a political party suggested (say) doubling the number of houses built per year, to satisfy demand that would lead to a drop in house prices. However most of the voters in the UK have (expensive) mortgages and therefore would never vote for any measure that reduced house prices.

Vicious circle, anyone?

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

At the end of the day if you have enough money to pay benefits all those (apart from the ones that go to expats) are spent in the UK on goods and services and go back into the economy and keep the wheels turning albeit in a slightly wonky manner.

There's plenty of taxes on fags, booze n cheap clothes to go back into the system to pay more benefits and so it goes on, round and round in some kind of self supporting manner plus cuts back on people needing to turn to crime to survive.

If you haven't even got an economy decent enough to pay all but the most rudimentary of benefits then even that money isn't circulating in the economy.:(

Not that I can understand what this has got to do with the Spanish housing market or the Eurozone, just seems to be the only thing that people seem interested in talking about for some bizarre reason.:confused:

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Obviously they're not B.E readers. ;)


In any event some of the new measures may only have been announced or come into force since they signed their contract.

In that case I would say that "Ignorance is Bliss"......

...........well, for a little while at least.

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Regarding benefits payments:

Source: 10 Popular myths debunked

So all the expats here, taking their UK state pensions - benefits claimants! :eek:

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

I thought it was well known that most benefits are spent on the over sixties and beyond, I for one don't begrudge them a penny of it as most have worked forty years or more and many fought/lived through one world war.

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

How are you doing with the design of a perpetual motion machine?

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Lol not sure but my head is spinning :rofl:

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

I love a lively discussion, but admit to being a bit confused about where this one is leading.

The state of the Spanish housing market is so well known to us expats that we can no longer be bothered to discuss it; so Germany's economy has taken our interest. And Maggie. And the expat exodus back to the UK.

On a personal basis, without the wife knowing, I was researching a house for sale in Lowestoft. I'm half a Londoner, but I can't afford to buy back there. I've still got a place there, but over the past 40 years it has changed beyond recognition. If I said any more the Guardian readers would shoot me down in flames.

You walk on egg shells nowadays, and I'm not even going to mention Ken Barlow.

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Never the mas exodus from Spain, the big question is will there be any Corried actors left:thumbdown:

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Doesn't take many posts on a thread to get around to "What about the UK then":lol:

Manufacturing UK style. saw this today.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...ery-hopes.html

Re: Spanish house pricing
 

Wait until you hear the revelations a bout Norris :D