Michael2312

I have been putting off telling people about this all week, but there are a lot of good people here, that should know,
I am an Estates Agent for a small firm in Cornwall, and I personally own a few properties, I am waiting on my yellow envelope (10 months so far),

Back to the point, I have just sold 4 properties to raise money, and because of what is happening. House prices have just hit the wall, and there could be a potential problem with others about to emigrate, if they fall which we are now going to see over the next couple of months, then people are not going to be able to leave the country as wealthy as they thought. Some who have stretched themselves to join the rising house market, WILL loose money. Debt taken into Australia will degrade your ability to buy there.

I am advising to sell now rather than later, this country will not see anything like the fall in prices of before, but values only need to drop by 10% to start costing people money, here in the south prices have increased by 47% this year alone so a up to 18% drop is possible, but 15% is predicted.

paulf

yep! heard on the radio this week that there is a REAL possibility that some of the first time buyers who stretched their budgets could well be hearing the dreaded phrase Negative Equity.
We need the americans to pull their finger out.

sky

Tell me about it we live up north and its already happening we had to drop our house by 20k to get a sale and it wasnt unrealistically priced and is in v.good condition, an identical property on our estate sold at the beginning of this year for our original asking price but we didnt have one punter

rapitts

This country is serious in debt.

Michael2312

The rumblings throughout the country over the last three years have affected the housing market in a lot of ways, people believed that houses were the best form of investment, which they were for a while, and over the last year people have been in the situation where they have no house and can see the prices rising sharply, and they buy at a price which is artificially high, because they think that prices will be well out of their reach in a year or two this only leads to higher house prices. This has kept the Market buoyant.
Now we have a crisis, lenders have given up to 5½ times your wages, and a great deal have been the self-certification mortgage.
This was caused by purchasers thinking the housing market will earn them £50,000 in a year if they stretched themselves to afford the mortgage. Now the limit has been reached and along with buyers unable to meet the high payments, first time buyers not being able to afford properties and the interest rate increase, and more to follow.
Don’t get me wrong; higher house prices are great for Estates Agents, and I take home ¼ of the 1½% I charge on every house sale. After I leave the UK I don’t want to have anything to do with the industry again, I’ve made my money and have had enough abuse and threats from house buyers and sellers.
I will have sold in principle my properties by next week and sit back and wait for the VISA.

Yes the north of the country is feeling the pinch; prices went slowly compared to the south, but that was a work/area cause. Now they are dropping because no one wants them. This trend will continue. There is a long way to drop to the realistic house price that an ‘average’ family can afford.

theguitardoctor

Oh well,

They say every cloud has a silver lining....maybe after all the c**p we've been through in NZ, this is ours. I for one hope there is a sharp drop in UK house prices (they are a f**king joke at present - £100,000 for a 100 year old tearraced house with no land??), at least then after all this unnecessary cost we may have a chance to get back to where we started from 6 months ago.....nothing flash, but comfortable and secure...

Rich.

Michael2312

Lots of P.M.s can't answer them as fast as they are comming in, but I will say the same as I have done to the few I have replied to, the market will always go up and down, just hold off buying for a least two months, and when you see the trend clearly on the news headlines think yourself very lucky indeed. I also cannot say when to buy, because, I don't know when the fall will stop, who does? when the price drop slows to a stop for at least two months running, would be a good bet. (all bets are a gamble)

bondipom

Just as important is the market still moving?

Michael2312

The property market is still moving, there is was a significant slowdown that started in the north-east which spread north-west, this has now turned into a decline in house prices in the north-east at the moment and other areas are slowing. The only movement in the market is in the high wage areas and south cosy areas, such as Cornwall, where I am, but it has slowed here too.
House price trends are actually quite easy to follow with todays information access capabilities, (the internet and email), you just need to look at sample prices in areas of the country and watch how they change in relation to others, this is a bit easier in the trade, as we are always scanning the refs for pricing strategies.

JaneandJim

Article from today's Evening Standard:

"House prices still on the climb
Jane Padgham, Evening Standard
28 November 2003

HOUSE prices continued to forge ahead in November, and Britain's runaway housing boom looks set to remain in full swing well into next year.

Thanks to renewed strength in the London market, the average price of a home in the capital rose by 1.2% to £133,388, according to figures today from Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society.

Although the increase was less than the 2% jump seen in October, it suggests the momentum has been maintained despite the Bank of England's quarter-point increase in interest rates at the start of the month.

The year-on-year rate of increase slipped slightly from 16.1% to 15.2%.

Nationwide said house price inflation was on course to hit its full-year forecast of 15%. The building society expects it to slow to 9% next year, with the figure for London around 5%.

Alex Bannister, the society's economist, said: 'The South-East, including London, which had experienced a slowdown in house prices, has seen signs of renewed price growth in the latest quarter.

'Despite this month's base rate* rise, mortgage rates remain low by historical standards and the labour market remains strong. The housing market looks set to finish-2003 on a strong note and carry over much of the momentum into the early part of next year.'

Today's report will come as a relief to homeowners after claims this week that more than 300,000 households will be in negative equity* by 2007, most of them in London and the South-East."

Jane

sky

We live next to a little train station in morley Leeds which provides a major link to London but it still does not do anything for us regarding house prices....no doubt once we have moved the prices will soar but thats just our luck

Badge

mate.

is this a warning from the estate agents body, which everyone is trying to keep a secret, or it is just your guess about what is happening in your area?

badge

GazzaGeorgie

Fair comment.....but the market is still strong...
We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago and sold on the 4th day, 4k below asking price to a buyer with no chain (corporate re-location) lucky maybe, but we still had 6 viewings and another offer (full asking) but cr*p chain as they hadnt sold..i think it all depends on area/location plus a little 'tarting' of the inside goes a long way.....
For all the people selling.....dont loose faith the 80's arnt around the corner !!!

Rosy

I think you'll find its very regional - I checked on www.upmystreet.com today, and they have the latest figures from the Land Registry, which show that the price of detached houses in our area (near Southampton) rose by £50,000 in the last 3 months!!!

Just glad I got back to the UK in time to afford a house here!!!

janeyray

Whey to go!!! Yeh Great... Perhaps all is not lost after all!!!???

Sorry for those selling but great for those buying?