Yes, one of the reasons (among others) is that Irish people got greedy and tried to jump on the band wagon of free money through rising property prices. This (along with cheap credit, lack of banking regulation, market manipulation by VIs and a stupid government) fuelled the market to an unvbelievable degree.
So the mentality that property is a sure thing is partly to blame for where we are now.
BUT,
At some point the slide will stop and prices will bottom out. From here we will see a return to a more normal course of events with slow apprecition over time. Couple with inflation the cost of a house will slowly decrease over time. Obviously this will be no-where near like the insanity of the last 10 years but more like the pattern of the 1970's and 1980's.
So, like I say, both of you are right in some sense.
Marie wrote:Except for the fact I'll be paying a much higher mortgage then the person down the road living in the same house!!!!
Marie, (assuming this is to be a family home), my advice would be to forget about the negative equity or the fact you could be paying less - you'd hardly notice 11k over the course of a mortgage and even if you did get the price down to 199k it will be worth less again in 6 months time.
The point is that at some point in the future, 5 years or maybe even 10 years, your house will come back in value.
If you're comfortable with the repayments then just get on with enjoying life. Eventually your house will come back in value and through slowly appreciating prices and normal inflation you're house will be come less expensive the same way it worked for our parents.
Don't think of it as an asset or a vehicle to make money - think of it more like the classic car you always wanted solely for it's value to you as a classic car -