Nationwide confident on UK housing market
The Nationwide, the UK's largest building society and a major player in the property sector, has today issued a report suggesting that the UK property sector should remain fairly stable over the next 6 to 12 months. The lender believes that upward pressure on property prices will decrease in the short to medium term as more properties come onto the market.
It is interesting to see that the Nationwide is not predicting an increase in UK base rates over the remainder of 2010 which would seem to indicate that inflation should fall back in the coming months. If interest rates do remain at around 0.5% for the foreseeable future this should at some point increase liquidity in the mortgage market and hopefully create a more fluid pool of funds for property buyers.
However, just when we feel that the UK property market has turned the corner there are other issues which come over the horizon. The debt problems in Europe have yet to have a major impact on the UK but the longer they continue the more chance the UK economy will suffer. It will be interesting to look back on 2010 in months to come and see whether it was "obvious" as to the future direction of the UK property market.
Share this..
Related stories
Property investors turn to land for the future
While the UK housing market is starting to show signs of stabilisation, and potential recovery, there is still a long way to go for many people to recoup the outlay on their homes. While there are, in the opinion of many people, still various opportunities in the property market, a number of investors are now looking towards land as an investment for the future. So is land the way ahead?
Average UK house price back above £200,000
Information released by the Communities and Local Government (CLG) shows that the average UK house price has now risen back above £200,000. While figures from November show that the rate of increase in the value of property in UK is starting to slow, prices in November were still 0.6% higher than the corresponding period in 2008. However, while house prices are starting to stabilise and consolida...
Read MoreEstate agents complaints on the rise
More than 8,000 complaints from customers regarding their estate agent were recorded in 2006, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) reports. The complaints, caused largely by administration problems with sale and purchase details along with customer's general distrust of estate agents, saw a year-on-year rise of more than a third â€" 2005 saw a total of 6,021 complaints registered with th...
Read MoreBank of England gives confusing opinion on UK property
Only a few days ago a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee suggested that the UK economy was on the crest of a recovery and the worst was over. Many people took this to be the official line from the Bank of England although over the weekend another member of the monetary policy committee has suggested that the UK property sector may stall in 2010 and could actually go into rev...
Read MoreBudget 2010: When is a first-time buyer not a first-time buyer?
The UK government today announced stamp duty relief for first-time buyers acquiring properties up to a value of £250,000. However, before the ink is even dry on Alistair Darling budget report the move has come in for significant criticism due in the main to the government's definition of a first-time buyer. According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in order to qualify for the stamp duty relie...
Read More