House Price Spy Blog

The media seems to be seeing a bit of daylight for a a change! After the doom and gloom it seems that property prices have evened out and there is a bit of a relative ‘feel-good’ factor is back. The average for England fell by 2k during August, 10k during September and the latest figures indicate that confidence is returning. This could have to do with the 1.5% drop in the interest rate from The Bank Of England and the forceful line the government have taken with lenders to pass this cut onto borrowers.

Everyone who has a variable mortgage will have seen a diffference in their payments, which will vary between lenders.

This is the first time since October last year that we can see light at the end of tunnel, but is certain not to be the end of the fall in house prices with at least 2 years before prices will start to grow with 2007 rates.

House Price Spy is the easiest way to keep up with trends local and national in house prices and news about the market in the Uk!

Homeowners who need or want to sell up are finally lowering the prices by an average of over £10,000. There are had been a growing trend in fixed prices with many sellers waiting on the right price rather that lowering prices. It seems that many are now lowering the price they will require to sell.

While this will be a blow for sellers it means it’s a buyers market and there are loads of bargains out there particularly for first time buyers who have saved a deposit and were previously ‘priced out’ of the property market.

There is good news on the financial front with inflation rates set to fall to 1% and The Woolwich passing on recent cuts in lending rate of under 4% for the next year

The government has pressed lenders to pass on the recent cut in interest rates from 4.5% to 3% to borrowers and it looks like this message is finally getting through with rates available to customers set to fall into line with the pre credit crunch level of 0.15% to 0.2% variation from the Base rate as set by The Bank Of England.

The cost of inter lender borrowing has now dropped back to 4.2% meaning that the crisis in mortgages should now start to improve.

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The papers have been full of the following story: the credit crunch could ruin over 1.3 million people who have ‘interest-only’ mortgages due to the drop in house prices. Interest-only mortgages were increasing popular in recent years, with people planning to use the projected rise in value to pay off a lump sum in the future, but with the recent financial problems many have not been able to save as expected.

For people who bought at the top of the market this means negative equity.

While property prices have dropped, prices will start to rise eventually-the industry is making a guess of 2-3 years before prices start to rise.

This will affect anyone having to sell in the next few years before the market recovers and anyone who bought property at above market prices. The papers have concentrated on people who dont have equity in their property or have trouble paying their mortgage.

Many people are questioning the government for allowing lenders to sell interest only mortgages which facilitated buyers to buy over their capacity to pay. This is just one of the controversial products that appears to have caused this whole crisis in the first place, the government will need to legislate clearly what can be leant to whom and under what circumstances. Borrowers will have to have a minimum deposit and be paying of a certain amount each month etc.

Did you know…that sales for DIY products are one of the few sectors which are profitting from the current slump in the property market? It’s official, many people are having to stay put and one way to make this more managable is to sort out your decor and funishings yourself!

Saving money on expensive (and unreliable) builders and tradesmen is not high on many peoples lists when it comes to their hard earned cash. More and more people are choosing to do work themselves and save a packet-getting a rather nice glow of a job well done into the bargain!

Save yourself a packet by doing your home up yourself. Its easier than you think with all the advice you get online and products that make the task easier for normal folks like you and me!

DIY Tools have a great selection of tools, fittings, nails, screws and everything else you might need for getting the job done.

Home Improvement can save you a packet and make your home seem even more valuable to you, get all the things you need from DIY Tools!

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There are some startling figures that have appeared in the last week or so one of which is that in the US as many 6% of home owners have defaulted on their mortgage. This gives their new leader and uphill task before he has even started. A job for young man if there was one…this has caused the value of homes to slump as there are even more cheap properties for sale.

In addition, the latest predictions as to the lowest point of the housing crisis have pointed at a 25% drop on average prices by 2009 with new build housing expected to suffer most especially ones built in the last 10 years. London, university towns and the usual suspects (Edinburgh, Manchester and parts of middle England) will be the first to see a recovery and growth.

Desperate sellers in Scotland have slashed up to 40% off the prices of their properties with an extra £5,000 off for same day cash purchases. This clearance sale for property

With the huge drop in mortgage lending rate and the pledge that this will finally be passed onto customers, this money will of course have to be found from somewhere. Many finance experts are expecting that savers will suffer a drop in the rates that they are paid for their hard earned savings. This seems like giving with one hand and taking with the other! is the UK public actually going to buy into this type of con?

Either that or Gordon Brown thinks that we are too poor to have any savings….

It was just 6 months ago that we had the last financial ‘crisis’, the savings-pension disaster. Borrowers were being to told to add to to any state or employment based pension to ensure they had a decent income in their late years. With the collapse in finance, the previously precarious level of pensions has fallen even further. Alternatives such as bonds and other investments have fallen even more….

Gordon Brown wants to get his story straight, for all our sakes.

We have all learnt a few serious lessons about using our money, buying property and saving.

The Bank of England has just announced (Today 12:00 GMT) that mortgage interest rates have been slashed by a huge 1.5% to 3%. While we all expected a cut similar to last months (0.5%), this move comes as a surprise to everyone within the finance industry.

Gordon Brown has taken moves to ensure that any cut will be passed onto customers rather than consolidating lenders positions, and measures will be taken to promote re-growth in the mortgage market in the next quarter

This month’s drop in rates comes hot on the heels of disastrous figures for the economy with production and sales down just in time for the retail industry’s busiest time of the year, Christmas.

This is the largest drop in interest rates since 1981 and means it’s a great time to consider moving your mortgage or re-negotiating a better deal.

House Price Spy can help you make the most of this change with their Remortgage Section of the site. There are unbeatable deals to make sure you beat the Credit Crunch! Re-mortgage with House Price Spy!

This week The Nationwide have announced an average fall in property prices of £30,000…dont know where they are getting that particular stat from! They are projecting the growth in the market at the most exagerated inflated time and saying we are now losing out on this money. The papers have been quick to pick up on statistics like this, they sound good for selling papers, they know that even when money is tight people still buy papers!

As mentioned in a blog of a few weeks ago, prices in England have been static, Scottish prices have only grown by £1,000 and Wales are down around £10K. While the number of sales is significantly down.

We could not expect the growth (Gordon Browns favourite word) in the property market to rise indefinitely. Property is still the best investment you can make and only people who are selling (and not buying) will lose out, and this only on certain over built areas.

In other news, many lenders including Abbey are starting First Time Buyers Accounts which encourage savers to save before they enter the property market.