'Bring on the crash', says BBC economics editor Evan Davis

We asked you for your views on the issue - and have received hundreds of e-mails. Here is a selection:

A rare piece of good sense. Apart from those with commercial interests in property, rising property values benefit only those who are, in effect, no longer participants in the market: emigrees, those trading down, the dead. For everyone else, it makes participation in the market harder. It is worth adding that almost all information about the market is provided by institutions with vested interests in its rise. How much should we listen to them?
Dr Richard Williams, Edinburgh, uk

Rising house prices lead to increased consumption and investment, that in turn will create tangible wealth for us all. The wealthy feeling we get from high prices might be false, but encourages the creation of real wealth further down the line.
Stephen McCreedy, Birmingham, England

It always seems to me that the only people to benefit from house price rises are estate agents (bigger fees) and the government (more inheritance tax.) Oh, and economic commentators (something to write about.)
Peter, Yorkshire

There is a real practical flaw in Evan's argument - the greedy banks & building societies! They would insist on Evan redeeming in full his mortgage before he was allowed to purchase the �10 bargain. Bin there, dun that during the last crash in '91.
Barney Curran, Oundle, Northants

The only people that benefit from high houses prices are Estate Agents, lenders and Gordon Brown via "Stamp Duty". As Evan says the price increase is meaningless to all, but those wishing to move. The big losers are first time buyers who can't afford to buy anything and waste money renting. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Shock.
Darren, Aldershot, England

I am now 30 years old and like most of my friends I simply cannot go affording to buy a house in my area because the asking price on them are just stupid. They have increased by 20% per year in price for last five years. It is only a matter fact that the most basic economics rules tell us this is going to end at some point. And if the stock market model is anything to go by I think it will be crash unless people wake up to this fact now.
It is nice to finally see an article that talks about house prices in a sensible way and not in the culture of greed as I've usually seen.
Stuart MacLean, Glasgow

This is a bit of a ridiculous argument. Evan's point that if his house drops to 25p he can pick up a palace for a tenner is wrong . It's the 1st time buyers who find themselves repossessed as they have to over extend in boom times and then find themselves in negative equity in the lean ones.
Neil Moorfield , Leeds, West Yorks

What utter rubbish. Evan, what if you suddenly lose your job, can't find another, and find yourself faced with monthly repayments of nearly a grand, on a tiny flat now worth 25p? We don't all have such cosy job security, you know.
Rob Ainsley, London, England

This is of course, a double-edged sword. No one wants negative equity, so to a large extent the damage is already done. I personally would like to see a substantial fall, but this will hurt a lot of recent buyers.
Tim Botten, Basingstoke, England

I bid 26p for your house! Good deal, no? Perhaps by selling it to me you can start a ripple effect that drops all house prices...
Andrew Pearce, Bristol, UK

At last, someone is speaking some sense when it comes to the insanity of this so called boom. Only a few months ago a local paper proudly declared that the local housing market was bucking the slight flat and still increasing. Exactly how can it be a good thing for the economy when houses are said it increase by 20% a year yet my wages increased only 2.8% in the same time. I have no hope of buying my own place and can only imagine emigration as a choice.
Stewart, Bognor

I'm afraid I can't agree, a house price collapse would just lead to a high street collapse which in turn would lead to unemployment, the negative spiral would continue down. The average homeowner doesn't think like Evan so it's how the masses react, not the theory that dictates that any asset class bubble busting is a bad thing. Slow wind down in real terms is what we need.
Stephen McCreedy, Birmingham, England

Thank you Evan. Some commonsense at last. A logical view of the housing market from someone who doesn't react to 'fashionable' thinking and asks, like so many of us, 'If house prices are rising does that make our nation richer?' We have been talking up each other's house values, withdrawing the resultant equity and spending it on anything and everything.
Carolyn Moore, Headley, Hants.

I would be keen to see a house price fall.

Six years ago I bought my first house a 3 bedroom semi detached, which cost �54,000. The property is now worth over �140,000. I have about �100,000 in equity. However I would also like to step up the ladder to a 4 bedroom house, six years ago this would have cost me about �90,000. Now I would be likely to pay �250,000.

I would like a redress so I could afford to step up the ladder, there is no way I can afford the extra �110,000 for 1 bedroom, whereas the �36,000 was a possibility.

I find that I am now stuck in what I once considered to be a starter home, either that or I must move overseas.
Mark Wood, Huddersfield, Yorkshire

Dear Evan,
What you have not considered in your comments is that many people see their property as their pension. The poor performance of share based pension schemes and the general mistrust of the financial world make property more important than a few years ago. Many people I know no longer pay into Pensions and have not done so for many years now. I think you will find more and more are relying on a strong property market and it is important that the market does not go down to much for our long term financial futures. Best Regards,
John Hornby, Chiseldon,Wilts

What short memories we have! Don't people realise that historically houses prices rise and fall. I bought a 4 bed detached house in 1999 for exactly the same price it had been bought for new in 1989! 10 years on, 4 owners, winners or losers? I then bought a 2 bed house, off a reluctant seller for the same price he'd paid for it 11 years previously. Now 4 years on this house has apparently tripled in value ??? But has it really ?
P.Williams, Conwy North Wales

I have been waiting and saving to buy my first place for a few years now and desperately want the prices to fall and to fall as far as possible. I think people are missing the most obvious point with the state that the housing market in this country. People are borrowing far to much and taking on too much risk for so little. Taking on a �150,000 dept, or 5 times your wage for a bed sit above a kebab shop is lunacy, from which ever angle you look at it.
Rory Johnson, London, England

I would love to see house prices fall. Since buying my first house its value has increased by more than 50%. I am looking to buy a larger house which has also increased by 50%. 50% of my property is a lot less than 50% of a more expensive property I am looking at, hence a drop in 25% in my house will be a much smaller amount than a house that drops 25% worth twice the value of mine. Bring on the crash!
Mike Sankey, Wickford, Essex

Sounds like sense if you view houses as primarily places to live in rather than as investments. I've never been able to understand why high house price inflation is welcomed when high retail price inflation is a Bad Thing.
Hugh, Aberdeen, UK

The idea that higher house prices makes us 'wealthier' is a fantasy for most of us. Of course it's a different story if you are rich and can buy and sell property like confetti. And if you are crafty, there are ways to dodge the capital gains tax on your property portfolio too. But then, high house prices have only ever benefited the rich haven't they? For everyone else, the vast majority of people, it's just a right, royal pain in the backside.
Just one other thing to bear in mind. If house prices were to increase at the same rate as they have done over the last 40 years, in 2044, a modest 3 bed semi in Redhill will cost about 15 million quid! Isn't it time we realised our expectations are just a tad unrealistic!?
Matt, Redhill UK