“And so bankers are looking to keep the ponzi dream alive by any means possible.”

According to zerohedge apparently the new abnormal is heating up in the mortgage industry in the UK.

“Just a month after the UK’s luxury housing bubble burst, it appears the nice friendly bankers at Barclays are looking for some scapegoats to flip their condos to.

In London, as Bloomberg reported, demand has slumped so badly that developers are offering discounts of up to 20% for their newly constructed homes. And just as the case was in Manhattan, it’s a result of the UK putting in a speed bump. The UK recently increased taxes on those deemed to be purchasing a second home, specifically designed to slow the pace of overseas investment.

According to Bloomberg, the U.K. government’s plan to increase sales taxes on second homes in Britain will also apply to people who live abroad.

“This means that if someone is purchasing their first or only property in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, they may pay the higher rates if they own property outside these areas,” the document shows.

As the Daily Mail reports.

“Barclays brings back the 100% mortgage giving new hope to first time buyers (but only for the wealthy)

Cashless people earning £50,000 can get three-year fixed deal at 2.99%
100% mortgages vanished in 2008 after financial crisis took hold
Barclays deal requires family to put 10% in account for three years”

Now some of people like to think this type of scheme perpetrated is left to those outside of Canada but as informed Canadians are very well aware of. Canada tops the list of overvalued real estate in the world.As Prem Watsa, which many call Canada’s Warren Buffett has this to say recently; “As we have said a few times before, the collapsing commodity prices will not spare Canada. Canadian housing prices, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver, have gone up significantly, driven by lax policies at CMHC (Canada’s equivalent to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Canadians have accessed their increasing real estate wealth through lines of credit easily available from the banks. Sounds familiar? This is exactly what happened in the United States before the financial crisis in 2008/2009. If history is any guide, this will reverse and we continue to be shocked at the massive debt levels incurred by young people (below 45 years old), with no financial buffer against hard times as the C.D. Howe report, Mortgaged to the Hilt, shows.”