House price rise has stalled says RICs

The latest RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) house price survey shows that house prices have stalled as increased supply has put pressure on prices.

As prices rose in 2009 many commentators suggested this was a false dawn created by a lack of supply in the market - those commentators will see this as the first stage in their projections playing out.

Overall market activity is still relatively slow as buyers are concerned with the prospect of tax increases, interest rate rises and the low avasilability of competitive mortgage products.

RICS spokesperson Jeremy Leaf said: ‘Most market indicators are still positive and consistent with further house price increases. However the magnitude of the gains going forward is likely to continue to ease reflecting the fact that new supply coming onto the market is starting to outstrip fresh demand.'

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Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5%

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion.


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2 year high for first time buyer loans caused by end of stamp duty concession say CML

Loans to first time buyers increased drastically last month as the window for taking advantage of the concession on tax duty for properties in the £125,000 to £175,000 bracket came to an end.

There were 24,900 loans to first-time buyers in Dec 2009 - the highest level since November 2008 and 26% up on the preceding month.

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders


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New rules for sale-and-rent-back market

The Council of Mortgage Lenders welcomed today's publication by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of new rules and guidance to provide full protection for consumers in the sale-and-rent-back market.

Lenders have for some years campaigned for statutory regulation to improve protection of home-owners who may be considering sale-and-rent-back as a means of dealing with mortgage arrears.Sourcve

Lenders welcomed the FSA's decision to move quickly to introduce interim regulation of sale-and-rent-back last July to tackle the most immediate issues. Now the FSA has published details of the scheme for full statutory regulation from 30 June 2010.

Commenting on today's FSA announcement, the CML's director general Michael Coogan said:

"We are pleased to see FSA pressing ahead with its plans to reinforce protection in an area where there has clearly been potential detriment for borrowers in arrears. Rules guaranteeing security of tenure for five years and banning cold-calling by sale-and-rent-back firms are particularly welcome.

"Borrowers in arrears should always continue discussing their problems with their lender, who will work to devise a solution depending on their individual circumstances. There are likely to be a number of options for them other than sale-and-rent-back, but it is re-assuring that borrowers who may still wish to consider this option will be better protected."

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

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Gross mortgage lending reached an estimated £13.7 billion in December 09

Gross mortgage lending reached an estimated £13.7 billion in December, a 14% rise from £12.1 billion in November and up 3% on December 2008, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This is the first time the annual monthly comparison has been in positive territory since October 2007. However, other than in 2008, this is still the lowest figure for December since 2001 (£13.4 billion).

Lending totalled £39.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up slightly from £39 billion in the previous quarter but down by 14% on the last three months of 2008. There is typically a 6% fall between the third and fourth quarter.

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders



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Do 'Fast House Sale' deals work?

Being in the online property media industry you see a lot of coverage and advertising for 'quick sale' or Fast House Sale schemes but I realised recently I'd had no direct dealings with them and had always put them down as being a bit dodgy.

Talking to an estate agent friend at a national estate agency chain a few years ago he told me that he has contacts with serial cash buyers who will snap up a property that the seller is willing to sell at a discount for a fast sale - perhaps if they can't afford mortgage payments or deperately need to liquidate their capital. This is often done outside his remit with his employer who never even sees the property on the books and I'm lead to believe is not uncommon practice among some estate agents.

Many Landlord groups offer advice on buying Below Market Value (BMV) properties as part of their investment strategy - a recent thread on the property forum Singing Pig discusses how to aquire property at BMV. Obviously property can be viewed as below market value for a variety of reasons, but the most common is a distressed sale where the owner is in a position where he must sell quickly and doesn't have the luxury to advertise and await the perfect buyer at the best price.

The main routes to finding BMV property are:

Auctions
Specialist BMV firms
Estate Agents
Property Finders
Your own research

So how do the 'Fast Sale' businesses work?

Some examples that I looked at today are below, but a google search will bring up many companies hungry to 'sell your house fast'.

www.quickcashforproperties.co.uk
www.aquicksale.co.uk
www.propertyrescue.co.uk
www.cash-sale-today.co.uk
www.choices.co.uk
www.nationalhomebuyers.co.uk

The pitch is that you are desperate to sell your house, whether for divorce, debt, emigration reasons, and the Fast House Sale companies have a database of willing cash buyers sitting in the wings waiting to snap up a bargain.

Fast Sales services are 'free' to the seller and don't require the services of an estate agent or a Home Information Pack so the seller will save on fees in that respect - all contributing to the BMV price.

So is it a useful service to match people in dire need with willing buyers, or is it a practice that falls into the grey area of socially acceptable behaviour?

Your comments please...


Footnote
Please note that although some of the links in this post are paid affiliate links, thebigpropertylist.co.uk is not recommending or endorsing any action or service mentioned above.

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Can Sarah Beeny sell my house?

The property section of the saturday's Telegraph carried a raving review of Sarah Beeny's private property sales website Tepilo.com in which Sarah again set out her vision for the future of property sales. She believes that by 2015 50% of us will be selling our house without an estate agent and that our erstwhile highstreet based salesmen will be viewed along similar lines as insurance and travel agencies where they will be frequented only by people who are too lazy or busy to organise their house sale themselves.

Let's hear it for Sarah!


thebigpropertylist.co.uk is a private property sales portal where UK homeowners can list their property for rent or to sell in conjunction or instead of using an estate agent. The website is currently in the final stages of development and is due to launch in early 2010.

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