(1888PressRelease)
May 01, 2009 - While all parts of England and Wales saw price falls over the year, there were regional differences across the country, ranging from a drop of 13.2% in the North East to a drop of 17.6% in the South East, according to the Land Registry March survey. Wales saw a drop of 15.3%.
On the positive side, there was a 40% rise in the number of homes sold in March compared with February, while the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that buyer interest was starting to gain “real momentum”.
But these small glimmers of good news are a long way from pointing to any significant revival in the market. The ongoing shortage of mortgage funds, the poor state of the economy, and the threat of unemployment mean that the demand for home loans will continue to fall – and with it, house prices.
The recently-announced measures by the government to boost the housing market were welcomed, but these will only be of partial help to a market still firmly in the doldrums. Lending remains sluggish despite government efforts to get it moving again. This week the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) announced that mortgages for house purchases by the UK’s major banks fell in March for the first time in four months, while the CML said that the mortgage market remains “highly dysfunctional”.
One of the government’s incentives is the extension of the stamp duty holiday from September to the end of the year for properties below £175,000. The average home is now below this threshold in every part of the UK except London and its commuter belt. This, along with falling prices and low interest rates, means greater affordability for first-time buyers, however it appears they are holding out for prices to fall further.
This in turn puts pressure on anxious vendors. “Given the current low demand, and the ongoing lack of consumer confidence, unless vendors are willing to wait it out in the hope that prices will soon rise, they need to set realistic asking prices that reflect the market realities,” said Lawrence Smith of Decision Homebuyers.
For press enquiries, please contact Phil Rendall on 020 7099 9026
Email: phil ( @ ) dhbuyers dot co dot uk
Web: www.decisionhomebuyers.co.uk
News provided by Decision Homebuyers, a leading UK property company offering a quick and simple solution for selling your home, no matter what the condition.
Decision Homebuyers carries out daily surveys of the national media to provide up-to-date news and commentary on the UK property market.
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