Thursday, 17 September 2009

Buying and Selling Property

By Martin Davis

Due to the current economic climate, in recent months, the UK housing market has been in dramatic decline. A staggering 16.6% decline has been seen, to date with a total of 1.3% of that amassed during January 2009.

As you will soon discover when you search online, there is much being written about the economic crisis that we are all currently facing. It is thought that the housing market in the UK will drop even further and sales of properties are not likely to increase for some time yet.

It has been predicted, by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) that there will be a further 10% decrease in the number of houses sold, this year. The housing market is currently in the worst position seen in many, many years.

Although house prices will begin to rise again in the year 2011 a further 10% decrease is expected this year, therefore people will have to recognize that the price of their house is currently much less than it was not so many years ago.

Although the market is in this weakened state, there are many people who are still willing to buy. For those who are looking to invest in property this may be the ideal time to do so. With house prices still falling and so many people being faced with homes being repossessed, deals are certainly available.

Due to the current economic climate, house repossession is presently at an all time high. People are struggling to meet their repayments and finding themselves in very difficult situations. It has been predicted that a further 34,000 homes will be repossessed, within the UK, this year.

So what are the main reasons why we have seen such a big decrease in the value of properties in the current UK property market?

(1) Mortgage companies are far less willing to provide finance to those people who want to purchase a home. This is because many people are unsure whether they will have a job or not and whether repayments for these mortgages can be met.

(2) In order to obtain a mortgage, finance companies require the buyer to provide a much larger deposit. So for first time buyers, being able to get a mortgage to buy their first home has virtually become impossible.

(3) As house prices fall, many buyers are holding off from buying more as they think prices will drop further.

(4) Even with cuts in the banks base rates, people still find it difficult to get the mortgage they want. Over the last 2-3 years the mortgage prices have not really moved, people have just been holding off remortgaging.

These are challenging times not just for property buyers, but also for builders and estate agents. A lot of these jobs are going because of the down fall, making the UK economy even worse.

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