There is not a housing shortage, but there is a mass shortage of homes people want to buy. People want 3-5 bed houses with a decent garden. The developers build 1-2 bedroom flats with no outdoor space. Here lies the problem

john, BATH,

The people who could afford to undertake such investments would be dead by the time they see a return.

Manu, Croydon , UK

Shortage of housing? So why are there so many empty flats people can't sell, the governments own figures show 1 in 20 houses are empty.

The market was driven by cheap money and speculation, not a shortage of housing.

Lenny, Coventry,

That's pretty much unanimous then; Anne Ashworth feel free to take a holiday and come back and entertain us in about 3 years time when the property market has come back down to Earth. Do send us a postcard from time to time though, and easy on the cocktails...

Jonathan, London,

The shortage of stock in the property market has been a myth. The true situation up until recently has been a surplus of easy money lent by the banks to anyone who cared to take it.

Allan, Inverness,

There is no shortage, only speculation

And the fundamentals are not in place at all. All the lagging indicators are showing themselves now...just watch uemployment sky-rocket.

george, aylesbury,

Stop trying to ramp the market. Firstly what bargains? Just wait another 6 months to a year to see the real bargains appearing.
Stop the shortage arguement, as the recession bites more and more property will become available .

david barker, eastbourne,

The shortage is a myth. There is no more a shortage now than during the 70s, 80s or 90s.

When prices were rocketing, people interpreted this as a shortage of property, nor a surplus of money (loose lending).

But now prices are falling they call it a shortage of lending, not a housing surplusl

Mart, London, UK

800,000 empty properties in Britain.

One hell of a shortage.

Mary Jones, Southampton,

Leeds City Council took the money from developers and let these flat schemes run wild. 20,000 more flats (12 yrs supply) have permission in Leeds, most at the expense of employment use land.

It is utter madness and represents a massive failure of local and national government to plan and control.

John Jenkins, York,

Like a well-worn record, property journalists keep parroting this stuff about "property shortage", 175,000 new homes were built in 2007, enough for 450,000 people. Granted, many were BTLs or overpriced and now stand empty but thats down to builders' greed, nothing to do with structural shortage.

geoff , spain,

As chairman of a Housing Association, it is unlikely that we will purchase 'bargains' on building sites just yet. To let at affordable rents, house prices will have to fall by another 25% or the government will have to give us higher grants:- to rely on housing benefits will just create slums.

john towers, Bolton, United Kingdom

"Bargains"? not unless the price has dropped by at least 50% from the high point. There has been 10% or more compound inflation - per annum - in house prices for at least the last 15 years. It is going to take a really, really massive reduction to fix the problem.

Clive, Monterrey , Mexico

Why wait for developers to cut margins only to zero?
Wait a bit longer and the administrators will have a different view on what a minimum price is.
We are a looooong way off bargains yet.
Yield after voids and costs >> cost of finance + risk margin might be start eh?
Do the sums, and wait.

Michael, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand