House market records worst fall since 2007
Buyers and sellers play “wait and see” while the UK housing market records a latest drop in property prices this month, the sharpest fall in the last three years.
According to the Rightmove House Price Index, which records on a monthly and annually basis the variations in housing prices and the state of the property market in England and Wales, prices fell 32 per cent in November.
This is the biggest monthly drop since December 2007. House prices have been falling constantly for four months over the last five.
In particular, Rightmove recorded an “unseasonally high number of unsold properties,” that have been for sale for the “longest time ever”.
The property website calculated that there are currently 24,028 new sellers per week putting their properties on the market – a decrease of 9.1 per cent compared to last month.
Still, “sellers face tough competition, while winter buyers hang back waiting for bargains,” wrote Rightmove in its survey.
The average house price has gone from £236,849, registered in October, down to £229,379 this month – falling from 3.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent.
Rightmove director, Miles Shipside, commented on the data: “Agents report that the Christmas slowdown has come early this year, as both would-be buyers and sellers are adopting a 'wait and see' policy until the direction of next year's housing market has become apparent”.
Mr Shipside said that the cause of the current stagnant situation is to be seen in the “mortgage famine.” The “shaky economy” has added to the slowdown that the housing market usually registers in wintertime and over Christmas.
“The bleak mid-winter is always the best time to catch desperate sellers, and those buyers who are currently lying in wait may wish to pounce this winter rather than next,” he said.
To conduct the survey, Rightmove counted almost 90 per cent of the UK housing market availabilities, measuring 96,110 property prices.
“Buyers who are active in the winter market will have [plenty] of choice, so their decisions will be based on bargain-hunting as well as on the usual criteria,” said Mr Shipside.
“This month's large price correction shows that new sellers and their estate agents are beginning to show a heightened awareness of the plight of buyers, but a lot of stale stock is still sitting on the market. Some sellers have lost their motivation to move, but remain on the market hoping for that special buyer to meet their out-dated and inflated price.”
Funnily enough, according to the latest Halifax report, rural house prices have risen steadily over the last 10 years, following the recent trend of leaving the crowded and noisy city environment to move back to quieter rural areas.
The report shows how house prices in the countryside have increased by 96 per cent since the early 2000s. The average rural house price has now reached £35,000 – with the city house prices still below 30k.
Halifax named South Oxfordshire as the most expensive rural location, with the average house price reaching £388,326 in 2010. The most affordable rural area in Britain is East Ayrshire, Scotland.
(Read the full article on The Fresh Outlook)
Nov 2010
According to the Rightmove House Price Index, which records on a monthly and annually basis the variations in housing prices and the state of the property market in England and Wales, prices fell 32 per cent in November.
This is the biggest monthly drop since December 2007. House prices have been falling constantly for four months over the last five.
In particular, Rightmove recorded an “unseasonally high number of unsold properties,” that have been for sale for the “longest time ever”.
The property website calculated that there are currently 24,028 new sellers per week putting their properties on the market – a decrease of 9.1 per cent compared to last month.
Still, “sellers face tough competition, while winter buyers hang back waiting for bargains,” wrote Rightmove in its survey.
The average house price has gone from £236,849, registered in October, down to £229,379 this month – falling from 3.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent.
Rightmove director, Miles Shipside, commented on the data: “Agents report that the Christmas slowdown has come early this year, as both would-be buyers and sellers are adopting a 'wait and see' policy until the direction of next year's housing market has become apparent”.
Mr Shipside said that the cause of the current stagnant situation is to be seen in the “mortgage famine.” The “shaky economy” has added to the slowdown that the housing market usually registers in wintertime and over Christmas.
“The bleak mid-winter is always the best time to catch desperate sellers, and those buyers who are currently lying in wait may wish to pounce this winter rather than next,” he said.
To conduct the survey, Rightmove counted almost 90 per cent of the UK housing market availabilities, measuring 96,110 property prices.
“Buyers who are active in the winter market will have [plenty] of choice, so their decisions will be based on bargain-hunting as well as on the usual criteria,” said Mr Shipside.
“This month's large price correction shows that new sellers and their estate agents are beginning to show a heightened awareness of the plight of buyers, but a lot of stale stock is still sitting on the market. Some sellers have lost their motivation to move, but remain on the market hoping for that special buyer to meet their out-dated and inflated price.”
Funnily enough, according to the latest Halifax report, rural house prices have risen steadily over the last 10 years, following the recent trend of leaving the crowded and noisy city environment to move back to quieter rural areas.
The report shows how house prices in the countryside have increased by 96 per cent since the early 2000s. The average rural house price has now reached £35,000 – with the city house prices still below 30k.
Halifax named South Oxfordshire as the most expensive rural location, with the average house price reaching £388,326 in 2010. The most affordable rural area in Britain is East Ayrshire, Scotland.
(Read the full article on The Fresh Outlook)
Nov 2010