Talking Point: Still standing
The wave of recent negative property market reports fail to give consumers a full and fair view of the current climate.
The recent report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) predicted that house prices are heading for another fall - because 44 per cent of its members have registered a drop in selling prices over the last three months.
This was the last in a long list of so-called expert comment that suggested property prices were on the way down – again.
It is vital that everyone stops and takes time to read beneath the headlines. Scary topline statistics rarely give the full picture and we shouldn’t all write the market off on the back of a few sick looking numbers.
For a start, only 265 estate agents were surveyed for this report – and of that number – more than half actually think that the housing market is doing ok.
According to the report, 6 per cent of those surveyed also said prices had risen and 50 per cent said they had been stable.
Talk about half empty reporting. I’m not sure what else the housing market could be doing. Amidst talk of government austerity measures and the spending review, the housing market will hardly see any sort of boom, will it?
One month it’s a bit up, the next it’s a bit down. It’s called stabilising – and it’s what the housing market needs to do. Yes, the market is tough – but there is still a market.
Other statistics reinforce this. For example, the typical deposit that first time buyers need to put down has shrunk quite significantly – from 24 per cent in July to 21 per cent in August and figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that the number of loans approved for house purchases is up 3 per cent on the same time last year
So, there is good news out there. In short, if you buy a house now it won’t be worth 10 per cent more than you paid for it by Christmas, but who wants a return to those days?
They key thing we all need to understand is this: medium term, our homes will hold their value and longer term, will rise nicely and at a very sensible level (supply and demand pretty much guarantees that).
Anyone in the market for a new home has to do their homework as the property market varies from county to county, town to town – even street to street.
Would-be buyers are advised to use websites such as nethouseprices.com and upmystreet.com to research average selling prices and obtain local information.
Sue Warwick, national sales and marketing director Miller Homes
