No End to House Price Fall in the UK |
| Although there are hundreds of different local housing markets in the UK, and they are all behaving differently, it appears that there is no end to the house price fall in the UK. Property prices have fallen by an average of 8.1% in the last year, but house price drops also seem to be an increasing global trend. In some instances, the fall in house prices has been in double digits. These kinds of figures have not been seen since the 1990’s. |
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| In a survey conducted this month, it has been found that large fall in house prices has been seen in London and East Anglia where 4% of home owners are only receiving 85% or lower on their asking prices. Home owners in Wales were even more beleaguered, in that one-fifth of the home owners surveyed were also only managing to sell their properties for 85% or lower of their asking price. The survey was conducted by means of all 2300 of UK post codes, based on 5588 responses from 1779 agents. |
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| There is another marked difference that is also prevalent in many of the local UK housing markets - this is the time that it takes on average for a home owner to sell their property. In the South East of England 10% of home owners experienced an average selling time of more than three months, whereas in Wales two-fifth of home owners took the same amount of time to sell their houses. |
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| The survey also highlights that the market has relatively few committed buyers who have access to finance, and buying volumes are near to bottoming out. The supply-demand balance in the UK housing market also points to the fact that need-based sellers will have to become more realistic in their asking prices. |
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| These indicators clearly show that the fall in UK housing prices will continue. The major contributing factors are believed to be the weak economic outlook, and the restricted availability of mortgages. Experts feel that these trends and indicators will keep house prices falling in the UK throughout 2009. |
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