Property Prices Keep Rising
Property prices keep on rising but financial experts are reminding everyone that this is based on record low numbers of sales rather than high demand. The number of properties going on the market is falling to its lowest for years and the figures on rising sale price are based on the demand for this small number of properties.
In addition, I will remind you that the summer is the traditional sale season and after that peak is over we may even see some sort of fall in the low number of sales. With number of sales (17,000 for england and 2,500 for scotland, just 865 for Wales) down to a third of their previous value the average sold price will fluctuate wildly as the market varies. To get a reliable figure we need more sales, which is were the government come in, low interest rates are fine to try to promote spending but anyone paying a tiny mortgage is hardly going to move home when their new mortgage will be 5-10x as large. Many people are staying put while the low interest rates last, and saving the money for a later day. Many are predicting that a rise in interest rates could see a boom in property sales some time early in 2010.
The government need to get the market back on track, there are still plenty of new houses being built and this could be the way to get the market working plus the LIFT scheme and others.