Bad news for the property market, this has all we have heard over the last three weeks, doom and gloom, scaremongering and negativity. It seems all the media are trying to talk the country in to a property recession.

Is it all bed news ? Yes and No seems to be my thoughts, although the sales market has seriously cooled I strongly believe that we live in a great area that should remain unaffected by negative prices and if you have a good house to sell and the valuation is right you will still be moving

What effect does the credit crunch have on the property market ? For us working in property it is and will be affected by the mortgage lending situation. Most lenders now are tightening their belts and do not want to lend unless you have a much larger deposit than we have previously known. This simply means less people can move thus slowing down the market. Mortgage lenders are not even passing on interest rate reductions, our current labour government need to be much more pro-active in making sure interest rate cuts are passed on. Gordon Brown be aware the public are sure to be looking to your government for more support.

How is the rental market ? Lettings remain on target to see a 20% growth this year, without doubt this area is seeing more and more demand, we have less tenants than ever moving out of property so we can report good news in this sector.

There will be interesting times ahead, some agents will be feeling the pinch, especially those relying on sales only. In this market the experienced agents are likely to prevail and remain strong, I am certain there will be opportunities ahead for those still willing to invest in the housing market, all will be revealed over the next 12 - 18 months.     Richard

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Rental Market, Sales Market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.