Britain Top Man In Europe

by Englishman 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  fodeja

  Eman,

  Most of this buying money is obtained using a mortgage via a Building Society, not a Bank. Traditonally, we Brits save with a B.S. collective also.

  I don't know enough about your "Building Society" system, and I've never heard about a "B.S. collective" (it just sounds like a description of the Governing Body of JWs ). Can you explain that a bit?

  Of course, with all economic statistics, there's always the question what exactly gets into them and what doesn't (which is why there are different types of unemployment ratios, for example). Same goes for savings ratio, which is definitely very low in Britain compared to, say, Germany.

  f.
• 

  Haereticus

  Englishman

  These things take time and especially for some countries. Adopting metric system you were allowed more than a century but that was not quite enough. I quote: "On the 6th August 1897 ..... Parliament passed the Weights and Measures (Metric System) Act, 1897 (60 & 61 Vict., Cap. 46)." Judging the acceptance metric received I would have been most astonished if Euro could have accepted in less than a hundred years.

  "Proper preparation & planning prevents piss poor performance." - Awul Dasfilshabeda and Nowaynayda Zheet
• 

  Simon

  I think the Euro will end in tears ... just VERY big ones.

  I still want to leave this island though
• 

  Englishman

  Fodeja,

  Building Societies: http://www.bsa.org.uk/

  A building societies primary function is to enable UK residents to build / buy their own home. Essentially, a BS pays interest to its investors whilst charging interest to it's borrowers. The interest rate is linked to the bank rate, so that, theoretically, a lender will always make some interest from the borrower.

  Proper Building Societies are MUTUAL societies, which means that savers, ie lenders, benefit from take-overs etc, whilst the welfare of the borrowers is protected. It is not the same as a bank, although some Building Societies have opted to become banks.

  Englishman.

  Bring on the dancing girls!
• 

  Englishman

  Simon,

  Anyone living in Manchester would want to leave England.

  Try Devon.

  Englishman.

  Bring on the dancing girls!
• 

  fodeja

  Essentially, a BS pays interest to its investors whilst charging interest to it's borrowers. The interest rate is linked to the bank rate, so that, theoretically, a lender will always make some interest from the borrower.

  Thanks for the link, Eman. But as I understand it, the difference between bank and building society is quite exactly nil from the viewpoint of national economy.

  BTW, I have tried to get some data on home ownership in Europe by way of Google. Unfortunately, my trusty OECD CDROM at home doesn't include that. According to a recent Guardian article, Britain doesn't seem to have such a top position in home ownership (which surprised me):

  Low interest rates, as well as huge demand from foreign and domestic buyers, have led property prices in Spain and Portugal to surge over the past four to five years. These countries have a strong tradition of home ownership - 80% of Spanish homes are owner-occupied... Italy, like other southern European countries, has a high level of owner occupancy - around 70%.

  Source: http://money.guardian.co.uk/theeuroandyou/story/0,11453,623703,00.html

  According to a very interesting paper (or actually slideshow presentation) I found in that search,

  - mortgage debt was at 60% of GDP in 1994, which is very high compared to the rest of Europe. As you say, housing seems to play a very important role in Britain.

  - about 80% of outstanding personal debt in the UK was at floating rates in 1996, which is also very high. This would appear to confirm my suggestion that rising interest rates will become a problem for the "deficit spenders" quite soon (assuming that interest rates will go up within the next year).

  Source: Huw Pill, Monetary policy in three currency areas ( http://www.people.hbs.edu/hpill/JCHS.pdf)

  The graphs are really quite interesting. Britain has somewhat high levels of home ownership, but not _very_ high compared to other countries. If you take France for comparison, there isn't much difference. However, the reliance on floating-rate mortgages is drastically higher in Britain than anywhere else (again, look at France!). I wonder why?

  f., who can't help being fascinated by macroeconomics, even though most people think that's boring :-)
• 

  Simon

  Well Manchester is famous because it was the place where the first computer was built, the first municipal airport in Britain (Barton) is down the road from us, we built the Manchester Ship Canal (to remove our dependency on the accursed scousers) - an amazing engineering feat at the time and of course it was the birthplace of the industrial revolution.

  What is Devon famous for?

  CUSTARD !

  hmmn, er ... want to swap?
• 

  ozziepost

  Britain has the largest percentge of home ownership in the World, over 60%.

  Eman,
  Were you serious about this? highest IN THE WORLD? Hmmmm....oops, sorry, we're not supposed to do that, are we Anyway, you get the message Remember when we were young(er) and everyone loved the modern-day Boadicea, Mrs Thatcher. Well, she would have liked your statement. When you say 60% private home ownership, do you mean that this represents sole-ownership, or simply includes private landlords? How many are tenanted? See what I mean?

  Nevertheless, it's a beautiful country (mostly). Well, this aussie ozzie thinks so!

  Cheers,
  Ozzie
  
  "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
  
  Anonymous
• 

  Englishman

  Ozzie,

  OK, I meant that at least 60% of homes are privately owned by the occupier. If you are not a home-owner then you are down on the social scale. It will be hard for non-home owners to get finance at a good rate.

  Fodeja,

  I'm quizzical about France having a high owner-occupier ratio, I need to look into this one. Doesn't gel with my experience of the country.

  Germany: I have often visited Germany, their system is entirely different to the UK. Often, Father, son, daughter, grandchildren etc, become part owners of the same property. Many Germans opt to live 'a' la Southfork', building extensions over or extending their properties outwards, thus accomodating all of their burgeoning family. Sometimes, young children are granted a mortgage with re-payments commencing when they reach adulthood, so that Pop can spend witout increasing his outgoings. The child benefits by automatically receiving a share in ownership which he an sell back to Dad if he so wishes, once he reaches his majority.

  From the above you can see that it is easy to say that as high as 70% of Germans live in privately owned property, if you ask the question that is put to the UK, which comprises essentially of much smaller family units i.e. does the main breadwinner own or rent his home, then the figure is in excess of 60%. In Germany the main breadwinner will own only a small share of his home, sometimes less than one-tenth, so the two can not be compared accurately.

  Englishman.

  Bring on the dancing girls!
• 

  fodeja

  Germany: I have often visited Germany, their system is entirely different to the UK. Often, Father, son, daughter, grandchildren etc, become part owners of the same property ...

  I have a suspicion that this is already reflected in the much lower home ownership percentage of Germany (around 40%, not 70%). Though there's always reason to be cautious with statistics, I'd be very surprised if the people compiling these numbers wouldn't factor in such differences.

  f.