Property News of the day
There are a few bits of news for today,
Only a third of mortgage lenders have passed on the recent rate cuts that were intended to benefit borrowers hit by the Credit Crunch. Whether these lenders are passing the money they have saved onto savers was not indicated. There are even calls for a further cut to a historic 0.5%, although personally I think this would be crazy. With savers already losing out and lenders not passing on cuts what would be the point, this also raises the point that at some point the rate will have to rise leaving some people high and dry. Since its not worthwhile to save the money saved because you dont get a decent rate does this not lead to people spending money rather than putting in away when times are tight? Savings are £2.2 billion down on the January figure.
Approved mortgages are rising to over 23,000 (up over 1,000) while total lending has fallen. As expected the market has picked up slightly but is still not comparable to 2007 figures.
The amount of money spent by UK households fell by 0.7% during Winter 2008 to the lowest levels since 1991 even though utility prices are higher than any time since the early 1970s.
So no surprises on any of these stories, we are saving less (because of the low rates), we are spending less on our outgoings and lenders are suiting themselves. While its not a great time to be in the estate agency business sales interest is picking up and people get used to the recession rather seeing the end of it, if you can get approaching market value for your property there are bargains out there-but you still should buy in reliable areas. Dont buy anywhere you would not have bought before…