Britannia Radio

Property - perfect pad or profit?

BBC Radio 4's Money Box Saturday, 27 December at 1204 BST On Radio 4 and Online As house prices continue to fall and predictions for 2009 are that they will continue down next year, in a special programme dedicated to the property market, we ask what housing is actually for. Is it to provide a roof over our heads, shelter for our family, somewhere to call our own at the end of the day? Or is it an opportunity to make money - to put our cash on what for a while seemed to be a one way bet - the upward escalator of house prices? And why did we think house prices could only go one way? Paul Lewis hears from Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Mark Dampier, head of Research with financial advisers Hargreaves Lansdowne, Martin Roberts, author and presenter of the BBC property programme Homes under the Hammer and Melanie Bien, director of mortgage brokers Savills. And Money Box's Bob Howard visits a property auction in London to see how prices there indicate the health of the housing market. Further information/related stories: Mortgage arrears 'to hit 500,000' Extra help for first-time buyers UK house prices 'to fall by 30%' How low will house prices go in 2009? UK's mortgage market in graphics External internet links And the housing market is also the subject of Call You and Yours on 30 December. You can email your views and experiences via the website: You and Yours Or call You and Yours on 0800 044 044. BBC Radio 4's Money Box broadcasts on Saturday, 27 December 2008 at 1204 GMT. The programme is repeated on Sunday 28 December 2008 at 2102 GMT.