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What impact is the property downturn having on you and the area you live in?

Natalie - Belfast
I have just got married back in September before this my husband and i were set up for buying a house with Sale Agreed we were purchasing the house through Co-ownership which fell through as Co-ownership ran out of funding. On top of this the mortgage products I was going to use are no longer available due to credit crunch. There are motgages there but need either % or 10 percent deposits. Due to the economic downturn I now need to save £15,000.00 to £20,000.00 deposit to secure a mortgage. Now that the prices of properties are falling it would be a good time to buy but we can't as I now need to save for a larger deposit. We our working very hard full time and having to live in privately rented accommodation which is £600pm. I choose to work full time and not live on benefits as i was raised to be a hard honest worker. We find it very frustrating that we our saving and working so hard to have a home of our own while people from social housing schemes are now being offered brand new luxury properties that they have indefinitely and either pay nothing or pay as little as 20 per week!! Which are courtesy of TAXPAYERS:-( What benefits do we get NONE! Every time you think you are getting some where something changes weather it is with banks, goverment, interest rates etc: I am 25 years old and need a little security something of my own. I am paying my Landlords Mortgage why cant i have one of my own! Idea for thought Housing Scheme should allocate some Housing to people who Honestly cannot afford to get onto the Housing Market in turn pay full rent this way you know you are secure in were you live and your landlord is not going to sell up and have thrown you out. The money we pay to the Goverment can be used to re-build the economic downturn. Another idea how about Co-Ownership paying the Deposit and add this onto your Rent so they get the money back. TAXPAYERS need to be helped more.

Teresa, Belfast
I am totally disgusted when I read this report. I frequently pass by these upmarket apartments and read the sign saying 'from £205,000, limited availability' How can anyone have any faith in the words of Estate Agents any more? Imagine a young person struggling to pay such a huge mortgage only to find that the neighbours will be having the same provided free on housing benefits, courtesy of the TAXPAYER! I hope that we as taxpayers will be given full details of the prices paid for these swish apartments, the amount of public money invested in them and the cost of annual rent to house people there. I have just retired after working hard paying taxes all my life only to see my savings taxed and used in this way. Tax payers need to wake up and call a halt to waste! Why bother going to work!

Belfast
I was trying to purchase a house through Co-ownership which fell through as Co-ownership ran out of funding. On top of this the mortgage products I was going to use are no longer available due to credit crunch. There are motgages there but due to the economic downturn I now need to save £15,000.00 to £20,000.00 deposit to secure a mortgage. Now that the prices of properties are falling it would be a good time to buy but I can't as I now need to save for a larger deposit. I am a single parent working very hard full time and having to live in privately rented accommodation. I choose to work full time and pay for childcare and not live on benefits. I find it very frustrating that I am saving and working so hard to have a home of my own for me and my daughter that is ours while people from social housing schemes are now being offered brand new luxury properties that they have indefinitely!!

stevie, belfast
I'm totally disgusted! There are many of getting up every morning to work, struggling to pay mortgages, finding energy and food bills rising and hard to pay etc. Now we are being told the NI Housing Executive and other housing bodies are going to hand over luxury apartments to those waiting for social housing. What does this say? If you sponge off the state you will be well looked after. Between all the available social security benefits and NOW top notch social housing why would anyone want to work. The honest citizen is getting angrier by the day.

b cranston
i can not afford to get a mortgage and i can just about afford to rent the tiny private house i live in now and it is in a very very bad state of disrepair. i cannot afford anything better and the housing executive won't allocate me enough points to get a house through them and now to hear that people on the list will be getting a high class apartment????? i don't understand why i bother working hard every day to get paid barely enough to rent what can only be very loosely refered to as a 'house' while some people (not all) who purposely stay unemployed or lie about injuries or get pregnant at 13 just to get a house, get a high class apartment like this. if there was ever a flawed system this is it. what a joke.

Coleraine taxpayer
Top quality housing being paid for by TAXPAYERS! An absolute disgrace - those of us working full time and paying our taxes are struggling to pay our mortgages and our rising energy bills and yet those why sit on their backsides all day get to kick up their heels in top class accommodation - you've got to kidding me........

Richard, Whitehead
Even though the house prices are falling, I still can't get a mortgage. Why wont banks still lend. They said it was due to a Credit Score, but mine was no worse than anyone elses and no-one will give out loans or Credit Cards to get it back up again!

Paul S.Belfast
I currently live close to these apartments and would love to be able to rent one of these although i'm not on a social housing list. I feel that it is unfair that those on social housing get such luxury apartments, I have been working from a young age and still could not afford to even rent one of these.

Raymond
I have worked hard all my life to get where I am now, but still cannot afford the still pricey rents of the better areas of Belfast, and have no chance of getting a mortgage due to student debt.I need not have bothered, I could have sat on benefits and got a Curzon apartment.Try and work hard, and you get less than a workshy benefit cheat. It is a disgrace.