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Oh well done lads, well done!

According to the Bank of England, mortgage lending in August fell by 95 per cent compared to the previous month – a drop fuelled by uncertainty over falling house prices and speculation over a possible stamp duty holiday.

That uncertainty over the stamp duty.

People who have worked in hte real world know that a decision, any decision, is at times better that umming and ahing until you make the "right" decision. It\’s uncertainty that kills markets….well done lads, just when we didn\’t need it you added two months uncertainty to the housing market.

2 thoughts on “Oh well done lads, well done!”

  1. Even if there were the drop that Mark says there hasn’t been, I’d be surprised that no agile broker-entrepreneur wouldn’t open a “book” covering both eventualities, enabling prospective buyers and sellers–for a price–to eliminate the major portion of their uncertainty by “hedging” the future and “getting on with their lives.”

    With all due respect, I think you’ve got it all wrong about the value of “doing something, anything–even if it’s the wrong thing” vs the appropriate investment of deliberation, etc. If it were the other way, human existence would show a high premium on unreflectiveness and reflexiveness, as has been the case with “lower” life forms. And, while we still exhibit these qualities with respect to most of the physiologic
    portions of existence, life activities dominated by consciousness and thought show adaptation tailored to deal with ambiguity, particularly uncertainty of the future and the consequences of action with respect to it.

    This (foregoing) is not in opposition to received wisdom about there “being a tide in the affairs of men” but merely to point out that, with respect to events, only some portion are able to avoid “too early” or “too late.” That’s what it’s all about: “to err is human,” even for the brightest and best.
    As a matter of fact, that’s what I see as the clear function of reason: prediction of the future.

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