Posts Tagged ‘housing market’
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has come up with a new policy which they hope will rescue the housing market. They are currently pressurising the government to adopt the policy.
The CML have stated that the biggest problem of the stagnant housing market is the lack of mortgages which are being made available to the general public and in particular first time buyers.
The innovative plan drawn up by CML differs from previous policies suggested as it will be the investors themselves who will retain the credit risk and the government will not be required to guarantee the scheme.
The CML hoped that the government would agree to this new proposal as they were confident that if adopted it would allow the housing market to recover quickly.
Tags: housing market
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Thursday, June 12th, 2008
The release of figures from the Government confirms the resilience of the Scottish house market. The Communities and Local Government department have issued its house price index for the year to April 2008 and they show annual house price growth at 7.7% in Scotland to be the highest for any region in the UK. However this does also show a price growth rate slower for Scotland than in the precious year which had been 9.3%. Within the UK figures as a whole there is shown to be a drop in the prices of flats of 0.3 per cent.
John Renton senior valuer at Caesar and Howie confirmed the figures reflected local experience in the Central belt. I think in most of Central Scotland prices are more affordable in terms of their relationship with incomes than in other parts of the UK. That’s what keeps the Scottish market from big ups and downs in my view. On the other hand continued John “I think the data is a little out of date and I think prices are pretty static at the moment. Sellers need to price sensibly and be patient to get their houses away”.
Tags: housing market
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Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
Never has the “House Market” been more in the news than it is now. But so far all the articles I have seen are about houses as a financial investment and whether prices will go up or down. Generally the slant on these articles seems to be it is bad news for prices to go down and good news for them to go up. Certainly there are many in the market to make money one way or another but perhaps many commentators miss the fact that this is a market mostly for homes for families and individuals. This is not a straightforward commodity market. It therefore seems to me that most buyers want a suitable home first and foremost with the secondary hope that it might appreciate in value somewhat over their lifetimes. Long term social trends in this country with smaller, different and more regularly changing family units would tend to suggest a move over time towards more households. Similarly increasing longevity and immigration would seem logically to add through time to housing need. So my feeling is that subject to fluctuations here and there the probable long view is that houses should appreciate in value.
If that is right buyers and sellers alike should not lose confidence in the market but respond sensibly to what seems to be happening in the short term. Currently in the short term the house market looks to be becoming a little smaller with fewer transactions taking place – and to have changed from the rampant sellers market of the last few years to a buyers one – where what pressure there is on prices is downwards.
In this scenario if you start looking at the market from the “home” perspective things look a bit different and more encouraging than perhaps most current commentators are saying. For example newcomers to the market will gain should prices fall. Again if someone owns a property and wants a bigger one – things get better if prices drop. Say prices drop 5% and your were intending selling at say £150 k and buying at about £250k your sale price drops by £7500 but your purchase price drops by £12500 – so you gain – and the higher up the scale you are the more you gain. Usually people trading up are doing so to accommodate the arrival of new member of the family – they are not moving just to make money. Losers in a market where prices are falling would be people trading down – but these tend to be older people who have been in their house a long time and whose mortgages are paid off. So the loss here is generally a paper one anyway as opposed to an actual loss of cash.
Possibly the only real losers may be those who buy with a large mortgage and have to move or sell at a time outwith their control when prices are falling. They may have just bought – then lost their job or have to move job forcing them to sell. This group would suffer on a price fall – but how many homeowners come into this category – probably not very many.
My feeling is that long term prospects remain good in this market, but care must be taken because of the short term buyers market we are in. The short term difficulties are causing delayed sales and creating English like chains where deals are not finalised till the last minute. For sellers that mean selling before you buy and even being prepared to take temporary accommodation before completing your purchase. It also means being patient in the sales process and completely sensible on prices. For buyers it means not paying too much now and also not buying in the hope that a quick sale on can deliver a profit in no time – that will not happen. It means leaving a little spare in the budget to cope with mortgage costs maybe rising. Finally It also means being prepared to see your new property as first a suitable home for you and your family now and only over time a financial investment.
Tags: housing market
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Thursday, May 8th, 2008
The Scottish housing market is still feeling the impact of the slump in house prices throughout the rest of the UK, it has been claimed.
In a report that may be of interest to househunters hoping to buy a house in Scotland, Teresa Hunter, writing for Scotland on Sunday pointed out that Scottish buyers still have to “borrow from the same pool of mortgages”.
She stated that although Abbey and the Bank of Scotland have ‘trimmed’ their deals recently, prices remain high and may do for some time.
“Undeniably the market is slowing, and I’m not convinced Scotland can remain immune, although it may sidestep the excessive price corrections already evident in some overcooked hotspots in the south,” she said.
However, the figures appear to disagree, with the March Halifax House Price Index indicating that over the last ten years Scotland has experienced a 271 per cent increase in house prices.
Tags: credit crunch, housing market, Sottish buyers
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Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Scottish first-time buyers may be left in a negative equity position if they try and rush onto the housing ladder, if one organisation is to be believed.
Iammoving.com has claimed that first-time buyers should adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach to house buying, in that they should gauge the developments in the market before they make a purchase.
Peter Beckett, business development director of the company, said: “If you rush into something now, you could find yourself in a negative equity position, having borrowed in order to be able to afford to secure the property in the first place.”
Mr Beckett suggested taking out a loan within the family, using savings or inheritance as advisable ways of funding a first property. In addition, he suggested making the commitment in conjunction with someone else in order to ease the burden.
Meanwhile, research from Iammoving.com has revealed that one in three first-time buyers are gambling on their house purchases by taking out unsecured loans and using credit cards for deposits.
Tags: housing market, property, Scotland
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Friday, May 2nd, 2008
In news that may be pertinent to environmentally-friendly househunters looking to buy a house in Scotland, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has advised against the creation of eco-towns.
Brian Berry, director of external affairs at the FMB, has claimed that, rather than investing in new eco-communities, a reform of the planning system should be adopted to supply higher environmental standards to existing houses.
“What we want is high quality housing in every village and town and that is much more sustainable than building new settlements that are deemed to be eco-towns,” he said.
Mr Berry argued that sustainable standards are required nationwide and not just in new settlements; however, he acknowledged that there is a need in the UK to create more housing solutions.
Zero-carbon homes will cost more to purchase than standard properties, according to 42 per cent of builders questioned by the National House-Building Council.
Tags: housing market, new homes
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Further weakness in the UK’s housing market has been exposed by statistics revealed by Nationwide, something that may be of interest to people looking to buy a house in Scotland.
The building society’s recorded house price figures show that they decreased by 1.1 per cent, representing a fall of one per cent over the past year.
Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s chief economist, commented that this follows the trend that has occurred over the last six months and “reflects the weakening sentiment in the market brought about by poor affordability and tighter financial market conditions”.
Ms Earley went on to say that a lack of demand from people stepping onto the housing ladder – potentially including Scottish first-time buyers – higher mortgage rates and tighter lending criteria have resulted in a record low in terms of house purchases.
However, it was claimed yesterday (April 29th) by property consultancy Knight Frank that the Scottish market was “remarkably robust” compared to the rest of the UK, which may be welcome news to those hoping to buy a house in Scotland.
Tags: credit crunch, House Prices, housing market
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