To Buy or not to Buy?

Today’s press releases are more confusing than how Wagna lasted such a long time in the X Factor.

Hometrack are forecasting house prices will continue to fall by 2% next year but Nationwide and Halifax valuers are saying house prices have risen overall this year, although they are not forecasting massive price rises they are expecting slight growth next year.

On the lending front we hear reports that lending is down and dropping as no one can borrow money, but the Bank of England have released Octobers figures showing lending is up and has been every month this year bar 1.

To try and get to the truth we have asked Rob Ashley-Roche our Mortgage Advisor for comments as he covers the whole of the UK so he will have a good feeling of what is really going on. Rob says that unfortunately when it come to house prices their does appear to be a bit of a North South divide. He has found that many areas there are very high demand for properties either being purchased or rented. In the areas of high rental need many landlords have started to expand their portfolios which is starting to push property prices up and in others there is just a lack of new homes coming on the market meaning the ones that are selling often have more than one person bidding for it. As a rule this is typical of most areas in the south but also some in the North of England in areas of good employment.

As far as Lending is concerned demand for mortgages is increasing month on month but the biggest demand has come in the Remortgage area with clients looking to either fix a rate now or consolidate loans and cards to reduce their outgoings.

Rob’s own views are that he does not see a boom in property prices for a very long time if ever! The lessons learnt from previous boom bust times have had a great effect on us all and hopefully we should see a very slow growth in 2011 and a steady growth thereafter.  Lending will continue to increase as lenders are now more confident about the future, and new lenders are coming to the markets so competition is increasing which is good for the customer.

Rob also says that he feels the press are partly responsible for the country taking longer to emerge from the recession that it should. The mixed messages spread by the press like today will confuse potential borrowers and cause people to sit and do nothing when they would rather move to a new home or remortgage to a better rate to improve their lifestyles.

We really believe we have seen the worst, and the best thing to do is ignore the press and get on with our lives.

If you want to chat with Rob at Rest Assured Mortgages his direct line is 01202 577718