The economy is looking good in the U.K

Hi from the U.K  the economy is in good shape the housing market is booming with sold boards on houses everywhere you can buy a brand new three bed semi in my area of south Wales for £125,.000  new cars can be bought for less than £6,000 lots and lots new cars on the roads second hand cars are rock bottom prices infact they are difficult to sell on things have been getting better for the last three years plenty of jobs about this is a good opportunity for the U.K expats in Spain that are looking for a U.K buyer for their Spanish property with plenty of money floating around in the U.K.

Far be it from me to drop a bomb shell on your comments but South Wales as nice as it might be isn't the UK as a whole, a friend of mine has had her house up for sale for over 8 months now and not that many lookers, the 4-5 that said yes all dropped out, the buyer now has taken over 3 months to get no where, even though they are buying her house. I know some who have managed to sell the house just to get their money back, and go into rented hoping the council will help out, and wont ever buy again.

Quite a few I have seen about have the "Sold" sign up quick...Only for them to come back on the market in a few weeks time, up for "Sale" again. Two smashing looking places near by have been on the market for over 18 months now. Granted not the price range you mention.  

All this might, probably will, change after April 26 when the new mortage rules come into force.

My small town I pass through every day has at the last count 8 empty shops and been this way for months, 10 years ago when I owned 3 in the town I had a long list of people who wanted to rent them if they came empty, all the time I owned them they never did.

Another factory in England is closing it's doors with 500 out of work,  last night news, and every week you hear of any amount of people being laid off due to the business closing.

New cars for less then £6.000 has to be a Proton - Kia - Duster etc, base models, and the biggest reason they are on the roads is down to the crazy finance deals on the market just to shift metal, cheaper then some mobile phone contracts or sky deals, when interest rates rise will they still be around?

Some people cant see the wood for the trees, they buy a new car,  for 48 - 60 months at approx. £180.00 x 48 months = £8,640 then get back if lucky £2,000..And so it goes on, but while house interest rates are at rock bottom wont pay of a tenner from the house mortgage.

As for jobs..Where? I know people, A nurse, School teacher, etc who cant even get to an interview, a friend who has worked for the prison service for over 10 years has been made redundant, but can apply for his job back to see if he is capable of doing it, 4 interviews so far, and let you know at the end of this month.

People are struggling here now and the proverbial will hit the fan sometime, as I said when interest rates rise, as I see it most of this plenty of money floating around doesn't belong to them but to a credit card company or some other loan outfit

There is no house boom anywhere outside of London and a very few other select areas.    The north of England is still way below what it was and there are still pleny of bank repos for sale, dragging prices down, just like they do in Spain.   Cars for £6000 - ?  Cannot even imagine what kind that would be.   Nothing I would even look at.  But hey - the name is windtalker - so I am guessing a WUM. 

Not sure about a housing boom but around here (North Wiltshire) all the houses seem to sell really quickly, for just under the asking price.I don't think that it's a particularly "select" area. We sold our old house in Canterbury 18 months ago in 3 weeks and that was considered to be in a difficult market. Mind you, it was priced to sell. The north isn't faring as well.

There does seem to be a boom in new cars, with lots of 0% finance available.

All the pubs/restaurants seem to be full and the Cotswolds were bustling with tourists over the weekend. All in all there does seem to be an air of optimism so I would cautiously agree with windtalker.

It certainly appears to be getting better in UK. As others have said, it depends on the area where the houses are selling. 

Hopefully, with unemployment coming down, the interest rates will rise which will be a good thing for the savers who have been getting derisory amounts now for years. Not so good for those who have committed themselves to the hilt but, IMHO, any rises over the next year or so will be so small that not that many will be affected.

The problem is the massive debt that the UK has. Loads higher than Spain both as a part of GDP and overall debt. Despite the many predictions on here and other sites, the pound still languishes around the 1.20 mark (slightly higher but nowhere near the 1.30 to 1.35 as predicted a few months ago). 

Every post about "corruption" being the reason nobody is buying in Spain fails to take into account the financial situation in other countries, especially UK. The money just isn't spare for investing in holiday homes. The exchange rate has still made it expensive to do so. Again hopefully, now that the wage rises have risen above inflation for the first time in 4 years and the pound may (only may) be on the rise, property will start selling again. 

I'm also a bit concerned about housing price rises. Isn't that what caused all the problems in the first place?  All well and good if you are selling and people can afford it but eventually gets to a level where people can't buy. Reports in the press are already saying that home ownership in UK is at the lowest level for years and more and more people are renting.

Where we are in Hertfordshire houses are selling well no sooner are they put on the market they have gone.

My brother lives in Essex and his flat went immediately it was put on the market.

So these area's are okay.

I agree that houses are selling much more quickly than they were a year ago.  But if they are selling for under the asking price - that is not a boom.   Which is all I am saying.  The average house price outside of London and parts of the south east, is still well below the 2007 level.   That is true in most of the south as well as the north.

Any interest rate rises no matter how tiny will hit many people because once they rise so does everything else connected to them, at the moment it's being said that the fuel tax has helped tax income, when wages rise most likely so will this once again, sure some house's sell quicker then others, it's always been like this and in many case's its down to price with the work location being the biggest priority.

Right now the economy is being beefed up by all of the talk of how well the UK is doing, not much is being mentioned of how much is owed...Which is in the area of trillions, and rising every day thanks to them borrowing millions every day with a small hope of paying it back.

The UK has virtually no manufacturing base worth a mention that it had even 20 years ago, last night on the news they showed a factory upping its output making plastic baths, well thats a big help for sure to the economy.

The multi million pound house's that are selling in London area's have no bearing on anything other then putting up the so called "Average" house price increase rise for the rest of the UK which in turn will cause a rise in inflation which will make them put up interest rates which in turn will cause prices to rise everywhere, leaving many thousands, perhaps millions, with a headache bigger then the last recession. Same as they do for the wages, some banker gets another million plus a year, the guy on basic pay is told his average wage has risen.

Many people have turned to new cars for, say £200.00 a month because they have been conditioned to the new number plate on the drive, next to no interest on the loan, and the cost of repairs on an older car, gladly spending £2,400 a year new car, but because they spend £600.00 a year getting the old one through the MOT they have been ripped of.

Baz,

           I love both Spain and the UK and have lived in both. Your view of the UK is very negative, if you were to ask the Spanish government or people and probably a large percentage of the remainder of Eurpoe if they would like to swop their economic situation with the UK, many would jump at the chance

. I have recently been staying in the states who are also experiencing financial difficulty, yet unlike the British tendency to look on the negatives of recovery they are very positive about the future.

Baz,

           I love both Spain and the UK and have lived in both. Your view of the UK is very negative, if you were to ask the Spanish government or people and probably a large percentage of the remainder of Eurpoe if they would like to swop their economic situation with the UK, many would jump at the chance

. I have recently been staying in the states who are also experiencing financial difficulty, yet unlike the British tendency to look on the negatives of recovery they are very positive about the future.

Yes I have to agree it does sound very negative, something which I don't want it to be, but this is how it is, and the only way to improve it is to recognise the problems around and deal with them, not keep coming up with "Percentage of this" or "percentage of that"  something which our government wont and cant seem to do, it's not enough to keep talking up the situation,  tough work action is needed. 

Look at last week when the chancellor said because he has frozen the tax increase on fuel more money has come into the countries tax revenue,  he couldn't work out that if you keep taking money of people in the form of taxes'....  They don't have it to spend on the high street, made it sound like he was the first to see this wonderful idea.

Also agree fully about America but it has to be remembered, as what an American friend said... When the UK make's a shirt it make's one for 5 million people..America makes a shirt for 50 million people.

We now have a massive amount of young Spanish coming into the UK to work, TV the other night, most said they have to do two low paid jobs to live here due to the costs, anyone's guess if the Spanish economy picked up greatly they would still stay here.

The world see's the UK as one big gold mine, no job UK pay you, no house the UK gives you one, bad health the UK fix you, nice reasons to come here.

Walk down the high street anytime of the day now, so many men walking about doing nothing, should be in work. 

I employ people, trust me you don't want to know what it costs me just to have them be on the payroll before they earn a penny, these are all the things that are bringing this country down...Costs.

I love my country, my jug is always half full,  but I also hate with a vengeance what it is turning into.

 Hi Baz,

              I dont have the responsiblity of employing people so can understand your frustration, ive only ever been employed so havent had to concern myself with the wider implications and looking after other peoples livelihoods.

I have worked in various foreign places (some nicer than others!) with an assortment of people from all over. As a whole I do believe that the UK beats most places hands down, I do agree there is room for improvement though!

PS what would your jug be half full with? Merlot,john smiths, fosters, Guiness!!!!

Yes, Jenno the UK beats many places a million times over, Russia / Ukraine comes to mind at the moment,  yes we must do more to improve, be a great manufacturing country once again.

Half full jug? ...That is full of love for my country but I do wish others would stop taking to big a sip from it though.