UK Property Investment Blog

A bit of a mixed week this week in terms of news effecting the property market. On Monday the head of Barclays bank predicted that in 2009 house prices are likely to fall by another 15% down to an overall drop of 30%. This of course means there is likely to be even more bargains around for property investors.

At the same time it was announced that the UK government has pledged an extra £100m to help first time buyers get on the market, a move designed to try and stimulate demand in property and prevent the previously mentioned predicted fall.

Wednesday and Thursday revealed that people on endowment mortgages were now facing massive shortfalls in savings just as their mortgages ended and the final balance needed paying. It was also announced that the number of people facing arrears on their mortgage was likely to rise to around 500,000 households. This could have the knock-on effect of up to 75,000 homes being repossessed. Bad for home owners but good for investors.

Finally on Friday it was revealed that consumer spending has improved for the second month in a row and the Halifax and Nationwide had decided not to make any house price forecasts for 2009. Halifax state their reason is due to the pending takeover by Llyods TSB and Nationwide pretty much said they couldn’t as the market was too volatile.

Heres a news summary from the last week:

• Fri 19^th Dec – Lenders Axe House Price Forecast: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7791391.stm
• Fri 19^th Dec – UK Consumer Confidence ‘Improves’: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7791172.stm
• Thu 18^th Dec – Mortgage Arrears ‘To Hit 500,000’: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7789274.stm
• Wed 17^th Dec – Grim Future For Endowments: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/7788016.stm
• Mon 15^th Dec – Households Have Less Spare Cash: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7783084.stm
• Mon 15^th Dec – Extra Help For First-Time Buyers: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7784253.stm
• Mon 15^th Dec – UK House Prices ‘To Fall By 30%’: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7782939.stm

As usual you should look to include this kind of news on your sites, not only does it help to show you keep your site up to date which helps build trust but it also gives you a chance to address the concerns people may have. Make it clear that low house prices are a property investors dream – the current market is absolutely perfect for a new investor. Cheap properties and high rental demand equals very rich investors!

Equity is not that important as long as a property is generating positive cashflow, and right now there are thousands upon thousands of houses to be found that produce high positive monthly cashflow. All you have to is know how to find them and buy them and that’s exactly what Property Mentor do.

Another week with plenty of news affecting the property market. On Monday one of the Uks big banks, HSBC announced they intend to lend double the amount of money they lent for mortgages in 2007. This is good news for many investors although it is not a move that is aimed to help first time buyers with much of their lending planned for existing borrowers.

On Tuesday the results of the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) were revealed, showing a the number of house sales per estate agent to be at 10.6 in the three months to November. This is down from 10.9 sales per estate agent in the previous three months showing that sales are yet to pick up.

On Wednesday it was revealed that the number of mortgage options were still falling with the low deposit mortgages (0-10% deposits) continuing to suffer. As long as this is the case the housing market is unlikely to stage much of a recovery due to its reliance on first time buyers who usually struggle to find a large deposit.

Heres a news summary from the last week:

• Wed 10^th Dec – Mortgage Rescue Details Announced: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7776233.stm
• Wed 10^th Dec – Mortgage Ranges Still Shrinking: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7775117.stm
• Tue 9^th Dec – Lenders Slam Government Policies: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7772873.stm
• Tue 9^th Dec – House Sales ‘Are Still Falling’: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7771118.stm
• Mon 8^th Dec – Northern Rock Snubs Government: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7772020.stm
• Mon 8^th Dec – Estate Agents Come Under Scrutiny: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7771316.stm
• Mon 8^th Dec – HSBC Aims To Lend More Mortgages: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7771174.stm

If you want a full run-down on how the current credit crunch occurred and the key events that have unfolded this timeline from the BBC gives you a good overview: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7521250.stm – If you take the time to go through this you could turn it in to a great article for your site.