What happens next to house prices and mortgages?

What happens next to house prices and mortgages?

8:18 AM, 27th July 2011, About 14 years ago

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So the property market is stuck in a rut and prices and mortgage lending bottom out, according to the latest surveys.

Looking at the housing market from a seller’s point of view, fewer houses are taking longer to sell mainly because mortgage lenders are keeping their cash.

From the lender’s side, regulators are clamping down on the easy lending policies of recent years to stop some of the wilder excesses of creative banking that led to the credit crisis.

Borrowers would happily sign up for a loan if the lender’s loosened their purse strings, but a new air of responsible lending is keeping them double-knotted.

The net result, according to contrasting figures from online property portal Rightmove and mortgage firm trade body the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) is stalemate in the market place.

Rightmove statistics show that around 1.1 million or so homes go on the market in a year, and that’s not every home looking for a buyer, but as the biggest portal representing the most estate agents, the number reflects a large slice of the house for sale pie.

According to the CML, around 420,000 mortgages to buy a home are agreed with first time buyers, buy to let investors and movers in a year.

That leaves around 70% of homes without a loan – around the same figure Rightmove quotes as the number of unsold homes in a year.

The July figure hint that sellers with an unrealistic price in mind are likely to face disappointment, explains Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove.

“Summer sellers are more nervous about their selling prospects than the early birds who asked ever higher prices during the first six months of this year,” he said.

“Early sellers in 2011 had a chance of worming their way into the more active spring market, whereas those coming to market now at the onset of the holiday season have to price more aggressively as many buyers have already gone to ground.

“With seven out of ten properties marketed so far this year still on the market, sellers and their estate agents marketing to potential buyers has to be enticing both in terms of pricing and the quality of the property’s presentation.”


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