[Anonymous]

As per Halifax report, the UK house prices fell -2.5% in March.

I wonder who falls faster now, Spain or UK? USA still has the lead but for how long?

The Pound is getting thrashed.

[Anonymous]

We have a house opposite us that went on the market 1 month ago. c£600,000. It has a gigantuan Sequoia tree in the back garden, that has a protection order on it, which reduces it’s value compared to the other houses. For this reason, historically this house has always taken a long time to sell. It has sold within the month.
Two colleagues of my husband sold their houses and moved into rented homes, because they felt they had a better chance to move quickly when the right house came up. Now they are both worried because when they see a property, they say that it is under offer so quickly they don’t get a look in.
Whilst prices have dropped a little (so far) there is not enough supply to meet demand, certainly in the area that I live in. For this reason I don’t think there will be such a “crash” here. The problem will be that mortgages will become very hard to get and this reason alone will stagnate the property market.

The Pound is getting thrashed.

The value of the pound has no effect on the UK market.

[Anonymous]

Claire wrote:

The value of the pound has no effect on the UK market.

It is the other way around, the house market has an effect on the pound.

As the house prices are falling, they will determine a slowdown of the economy (based on consumer spending) and this will determine a lowering of the Bank of England rate.

The lower the rate the more unattractive the Pound becomes because the yield of Euro becomes better.

Of course the Pound will/might get better if Eurozone economies go down faster than the UK economy and ECB starts lowering rates faster.

It is a race to the bottom…

Claire wrote:

Whilst prices have dropped a little (so far) there is not enough supply to meet demand, certainly in the area that I live in. For this reason I don’t think there will be such a “crash” here. The problem will be that mortgages will become very hard to get and this reason alone will stagnate the property market.

I do not know your area but in North West nothing sells. I am checking regularly my area and 3-4 areas where I would like to move up in the future.
The number of properties increases , asking prices decrease and nothing sells.

Mortgages are already hard to get, first time buyers need to come with big deposits.

We are only at the first stage of the decline, the worst is yet to come.

[Anonymous]

As I said Ralita, not everywhere is seeing prices fall.. I think people are being more realistic with their asking price. Too many are staying put , hence lack of supply. It is those who took out too big a mortgage and who can now not facilitate the increases in interest rates levied by the mortgage lenders . They need to sell quickly so lower their asking prices. Not everyone marketing their property needs to sell .

[Anonymous]

Claire wrote:

As I said Ralita, not everywhere is seeing prices fall.. I think people are being more realistic with their asking price. Too many are staying put , hence lack of supply. It is those who took out too big a mortgage and who can now not facilitate the increases in interest rates levied by the mortgage lenders . They need to sell quickly so lower their asking prices. Not everyone marketing their property needs to sell .

I knew that Spain would have a house price crash. I did not expect UK to have a house price crash.

But the masses will hear today that the prices decreased by 2.5% in ONE month. Some will get scared. If they have big mortgages and enter negative equity, some will give up…

I do not know what to expect anymore.

[Anonymous]

ralita

i wouldn’t worry about the housing situation in the UK (YET!)

the supply and demand situation is like chalk and cheese, as is the whole corruption and dishonesty within the system thing. On my estate in the midlands, houses are still selling without reductions. Just not going up much.

At least buying here, you stand a good chance of a smooth transaction.

We moved 6 months ago, it was so straight forward and ‘safe’ compared to buying in Spain.

[Anonymous]

Correct it’s not time to worry about the Uk property market now……, no it was back in 2003, 2004 and especially mid 2005 when interest rates were dropped by .25% (against the run) and hundreds of thousands since have been sucked in at the top.

The last 4 years were a great time to restructure/pay down debts/mortgages and reduce our exposue to BTL and homes abroad, not do exactly the opposite.

A culture has developed in the UK where people think property only goes up in price because 100% mortgages 6 x income and rate tart interest rates of 2 to 5 % are the norm! Oh yeah and the government wont let prices fall.

City center flats across the UK will be down 50% by the time we hit bottom and most other properties will be down by 25% (plenty of great properties at -35% on peak prices). The falls will be worse than last time.

All just my opinion.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t look good in Turkey either according to one ‘Have your Say’ contributor to a Daily Telegraph article today. I wonder how many Spanish developers/agents moved to Turkey only to find their fingers are getting burnt there as well.

“The problem is getting greater in Turkey. The government is cheating via numbers. The great collapse is soon in Turkey too. The market is catastrophic and no money flow in business. Cheques and bill of exchanges are not paid. We feel death on our neck soon”.
😯

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/04/07/ccom107.xml

[mike]

@ralita wrote:

I knew that Spain would have a house price crash. I did not expect UK to have a house price crash.

But the masses will hear today that the prices decreased by 2.5% in ONE month. Some will get scared. If they have big mortgages and enter negative equity, some will give up…

I do not know what to expect anymore.

They reckon that the withdrawal of 100% mortgages, there are none left, means that prices will fall further. Gordon Brown is on the news reassuring us as I type. The market has cracked and it’s now how low we go.

[mike]

@ralita wrote:

I knew that Spain would have a house price crash. I did not expect UK to have a house price crash.

But the masses will hear today that the prices decreased by 2.5% in ONE month. Some will get scared. If they have big mortgages and enter negative equity, some will give up…

I do not know what to expect anymore.

They reckon that the withdrawal of 100% mortgages, there are none left, means that prices will fall further. Gordon Brown is on the news reassuring us as I type. The market has cracked and it’s now how low we go.

[Anonymous]

Mike 🙂
There is no problem now that Gordon is on the case then 😕 😕 😕
Prudence and fiscal policies carried out over the past number of years will ensure we can sleep at nights 😕 😕

Just Frank 8)

[Anonymous]

Mike 🙂
There is no problem now that Gordon is on the case then 😕 😕 😕
Prudence and fiscal policies carried out over the past number of years will ensure we can sleep at nights 😕 😕

Just Frank 8)

[katy]

Claire ,I agree, my daughter has been house hunting around the Surrey area, no noticeable falls and some have gone before she has had chance to view.

[katy]

Claire ,I agree, my daughter has been house hunting around the Surrey area, no noticeable falls and some have gone before she has had chance to view.

[mike]

@Just Frank wrote:

Mike 🙂
There is no problem now that Gordon is on the case then 😕 😕 😕
Prudence and fiscal policies carried out over the past number of years will ensure we can sleep at nights 😕 😕

Just Frank 8)

Well he claimed the credit so he should accept the blame but I don’t really see it is his fault. Property around the world has been booming making us all feel richer and this made the world economy boom too.

It isn’t going to help the Spanish property market, is it? Who would lend against an asset in the UK which is falling in price so that someone can buy an asset in Spain which is also falling in price?

I feel for those that have been earning sterling to pay off a euro loan, they will have to tighen their belt, maybe take fewer flights to Spain for their weekend trips to the family.

And it hasn’t really started yet.

[mike]

@Just Frank wrote:

Mike 🙂
There is no problem now that Gordon is on the case then 😕 😕 😕
Prudence and fiscal policies carried out over the past number of years will ensure we can sleep at nights 😕 😕

Just Frank 8)

Well he claimed the credit so he should accept the blame but I don’t really see it is his fault. Property around the world has been booming making us all feel richer and this made the world economy boom too.

It isn’t going to help the Spanish property market, is it? Who would lend against an asset in the UK which is falling in price so that someone can buy an asset in Spain which is also falling in price?

I feel for those that have been earning sterling to pay off a euro loan, they will have to tighen their belt, maybe take fewer flights to Spain for their weekend trips to the family.

And it hasn’t really started yet.

[Author]

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