On Tuesday, the news we have all been waitingfor finally came: Britain is officially out of recession.

And while thingsaren't going to improve overnight, I can't help but feel optimistic aboutthe year ahead.

Experts predicted the property market would slump in January, following a rushof home buyers in November and December trying to take advantage of the stampduty holiday before it ended. 

So, with things movingin the right direction, what better time is there to list your properties on directly on www.ukhousing.com and contact potential buyers directly.  

Together we can stop bad estate agents overheating the market and Sell or Rent your property direct.  

House prices 'to keep on rising'

Rising prices are most widespread in London, Rics said House prices are likely to keep on rising for the time being, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Its latest monthly survey shows that sellers are now beginning to return to the property market. But they are still being outweighed by the number of potential buyers registered with estate agents. A separate government property survey said house prices had risen by 6% between May and September. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) also said UK house prices rose by 1.2% in September. Although prices are still 4.1% lower than a year ago, this was the fourth monthly increase in a row and put the average house price at £199,303 across the country. Property shortage The Rics survey found that in October, the balance of surveyors reporting price rises rather than falls rose to 34%, up from 20% in September. The comparative shortage of supply is continuing to promote buyer competition Keith Barnfield, Barnfields estate agency Rics said this was the strongest survey result in favour of rising prices since December 2006. "Although the supply of property is beginning to pick-up, it is still insufficient to keep pace with the increase in demand which points to further prices gains in the near term," said Jeremy Leaf of Rics. "Cheap money remains a critical prop for the market and this is being reflected in the continuing appetite for finance from first-time buyers despite the large deposits still being demanded by lenders," he added. Commentators have explained this by pointing to a dearth of people putting their homes up for sale, even though the number of potential buyers has been restricted since 2007 by the continuing rationing of available mortgages because of the continuing effects of the international credit crunch. "Transaction numbers are back up to 2006 levels - the comparative shortage of supply is continuing to promote buyer competition," said Keith Barnfield of Barnfields in Enfield. Richard Evans of Colleys surveyors in Exeter said: "Competition amongst buyers for a small supply of properties for sale is continuing to drive asking prices and values up." More sales The Rics survey said London was leading the way in terms of price rises, with a balance of 95% of estate agents in the capital reporting that prices were going up rather than down. That was the strongest survey result for London since December 1996. The balance of those surveyors across the UK reporting an increase in instructions from would-be sellers has risen from just 5% in September to 15% in October. Rics said this upward trend in sales instructions had occurred in all regions, particularly in the north of England, the South West and in London. Completed sales have continued to rise slowly to an average of 19 per surveyor over the past three months - although that still amounts to just under three sales every two weeks. "The most recent survey provided further evidence that activity levels also continue to improve, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in previous months [but] a shortage of supply still seems to be limiting activity in the housing market," said Rics. Catherine Penman, of property consultancy Carter Jonas, said: "The September DCLG figures are further proof of the ongoing recovery in the residential property market, which is virtually unrecognisable from a year ago." "Low interest rates, attractive prices and more encouraging news from the economy are driving transactions," she added.

Click here for the full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8350707.stm

My view of this news is somewhat mixed..

On the one hand I'm happy the see the housing market stabilise, but on the other hand i'm left with a feeling of de ja vue.. I'm sure we've been here before. 

My Advise..  First time buyers... Bend over and assume the position! That's right.. you're about to get shafted..   (AGAIN!!)

We are www.UKHousing.com can only hope that more buyers and sellers cut out the middle man and sell or let their property with out an estate agent.  If only we could cut out banks too.. sigh.. 

Question...I am already using an Estate Agent, can I still attempt sell my house privately?

The answer is 'maybe'...It depends on what contract you signed with your agent.

If you are already with an estate agent you will have one of the following types of contract between the estate agent and yourself:

1. 'Sole selling / letting'
Sole selling / letting means your estate agent is the only one with the right to sell or let your house. Even if you find a buyer or tenant yourself, you'll still have to pay the agent!

2. 'Sole agency'
'Sole agency' also means the estate agent is the only one with the right to sell or let your house but if you find a buyer or tenant yourself, you will not have to pay the agent.

3. 'Multi agency'
'Multi agency' means that you can choose several estate agents to market your house but you will only have to pay commission to the one who sells or lets it

4. 'Ready, willing and able purchaser'
'Ready, willing and able purchaser' is a contract. If the estate agent finds you a buyer and you later withdraw from the sale, you'll still have to pay them.

As we are not an estate agent and your contract is either 2,3 or 4 then you can still use our services and sell or let your properties privately.

Note: Check your contract is not for Sole Selling rights.
Under Sole Selling Rights, your agent can claim commission even if you sell the property. Hopefully your contract is for Sole Agency.

We have all seen TV programmes like House Doctor, Property Ladder or House Auction, that give us all the tips and advice we need to know in order to sell our property. From watching programmes like House Doctor, I've picked up an amazing amount of ideas about selling a house and reaching the maximum asking price. The same can be said of Property Ladder, which focused on developing a house to its maximum potential for selling. However, after watching all of these programmes I can't help but think they are missing out on something fundamental to selling a house. From my point of view there are two different factors which decide a house sale. Firstly its the overall house appearance, garden, decoration, furnishings etc - making the house look attractive and appealing to buy. This are all catered for by the aforementioned TV programmes. Secondly, the house needs to be sold. This is the stage where having the right estate agent and selling price plays a huge influence and, unless you've done your homework, it almost all out of your control. Choosing the right Estate Agent is vital, as they should have done all the hard work for you and be the best ones for the type of property that you have.

Estate agents are seen by most as the only way to sell a house. Without trying to slate Estate Agents (as this is not my intention for this blog post), there can be false expectations associated with selling your house. The main one being the overall asking price. If you don't do your research into the housing market in your area, you could be left with a false sense of optimism about the value of your house. If an Estate Agent is putting the house on the market for a figure they hope to get this could lead you feeling frustrated if your house does not sell. By having such false ideals about the value of your house, a drop in the asking price might seem totally out of the question, affecting your and the Estate Agent's profits. Having both a realistic and carefully researched asking price will mean that you should see the property sell at a much more agreeable price. 

So apart from using an Estate Agent, what are the other ways of selling your home? Now that the hard work has been done on the appearance of your house, how can you go about putting it on the market? One of the more popular choices for a sale is to put it up for auction. Whilst you are then in control of the sale process and are saving on the time to sell the house, there are still the commission fees for auctioneer's and if the house is suitable for auction in the first place. Another option is to sell your house privately. Not as difficult as it may seem. Let me explain.

There is no question that the internet is rapidly expanding into new areas of business and our lives. Technology is changing the way we search for information and also acquire what we need. With everything you could possibly want being sold on eBay is it any wonder that items for sale are increasing in both size and price tag. If more people are searching for property on the web, then it seems only natural to progress to selling your home privately on the internet. So there are a number of websites where you can quite easily sell your home, eBay has been known to sell small properties in the US and even the founder of www.gumtree.com put up his £1 million bachelor pad for sale on the Gumtree website a few years ago. This can be just as successful for selling as using an Estate Agent all possible at a fraction of the advertising costs. 

Combine this cost cutting with the current economic conditions and this does look like a recipe for success. By selling your house privately, you can not only take control of the selling price but also how it is marketed. By advertising on the internet you can capture people who are directly looking for housing for sale and worldwide. There are a few highly specialised websites that are dedicated to selling your house that will be able to handle all the procedures for where your home will be advertised. With this part taken care of, all you need to do is research your asking price, make your home look appealing and then take care of the HIPs and Solicitor's fees. Your house can then be sold with you in control and get the asking price you want. People looking for saving money from commission fees and getting the price they want should consider a more high-tech way of selling your house.

If you are interested in how to sell your house online, why not visit www.UKHousing.com and find out how to sell you house privately for free and without an estate agent.  

I don't think estate agents should take the blame for the rise in house prices and subsequent large falls.

They were simply doing their job, which is (was) to get as much commission as possible for themselves and realise the highest value for the property.

I do however blame the banking system and indirectly the government for allowing this house price explosion to occur in the first place, becuase when even first time buyers in the North of England, earning a wage which is above the national average are struggling to get onto the housing ladder, alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear in number 10!

At this point steps needed to be taken to address the irresponsible lending which was going on and the bank of England given a new mandate.

Call me a cynic, but I looked into buying a shared ownership apartment some months ago and was left with the feeling that the whole scheme was a trick to allow me to buy a fraction of an overpriced property and pay rent of the remaining portion. 

If the banks would not lend me a mortgage with repayment of 1000 pounds per month, why would they lend me 600, knowing that I still had a further 400 pounds in rent to pay? They shouldn’t right? But this was how shared ownership works. Smoke and mirrors!

As a result of the cheapness of money and the ever more imaginative ways of getting people onto the housing ladder , the UK went property mad, with countless property shows illustrating how even the most inept Neanderthal can make money from property.

Now the party is over and we all have the hangover and collectively as a society we need to adapt.

My thoughts go out to all who, like myself, are caught with negative equity. I console myself by saying that negative equity is not going to be an issue for me until I need to sell, which is not going to be for a while.

Other people are not so lucky as this credit crunch and subsequent fall in property values are leading us ever further into a major economic downturn.

So who do I blame..?

Everyone.

We all got greedy and brought into the myth of money for nothing. We should remember that a house is a home, not a Magic piggy bank.

Sometime in the next few years, house prices will start to rise again, but with fewer estate agents (thanks to this downturn, and ukhousing.com) and financial institutions.

Estate agencies are closing branches at the rate of 150 a week, with 4,000 job losses since the start of the year.

The number of estate agency branches has fallen from about 13,000 at the start of the year to about 12,000. Removal firms have also laid off hundreds of staff after a 26 per cent fall in the number of properties changing hands over the past 12 months. The job losses are the clearest sign yet of the impact the global credit crisis and housing market slowdown have had on the wider economy. Source: Harry Wallop and Gordon Rayner.

Despite the recent government intervention in the British banking sector, unless banks and building societies increase lending to mortgage applicants, worse will come be to come. “I think House prices will drop for another 4 years and will return to 2007 levels in roughly a decade.” Daniel Tomas – Property Correspondent Financial Times. BBC Money Program - Property: The End of the Affair?

The number of mortgages approved for home buyers has fallen by 44 per cent in 12 months to its lowest level since the Bank of England began collecting data 15 years ago. Without access to mortgages, potential home buyers cannot move house, meaning a sharp fall in business for any company that depends for its trade on people wanting to move. Estate agencies have been particularly badly hit.

Debtwire, an organisation that monitors the health of companies, said the number of estate agency branches had fallen from about 13,000 at the start of the year to about 12,000. The rate of closures is accelerating and presently stands at 150 a week. Sources in the field said that with each branch employing an average of four people, the number of job losses was about 4,000.

Peter Bolton King, the chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: "The irony is that there is no shortage of people who want to move house, but without mortgages they just can't do so. "Estate agents are having to close because there just isn't enough movement in the housing market and that is likely to have a much wider impact because a healthy housing market is essential for the health of the high street. "When no one is moving, the negative feeling that creates tends to make people tighten their purse-strings. "The only way things will improve is when banks and building societies start to open up their lending criteria so people can borrow money and then the housing market will start moving again."

Last week, three leading house price indices showed that prices had started to fall in earnest, with property values lower than a year ago. Mortgage lending has been affected by the worldwide credit crisis, with first-time buyers particularly badly hit. A year ago many lenders offered 100 per cent mortgages, but now most will give only 90 per cent. This means a first-time buyer needs an average of £25,000 to cover a deposit, stamp duty and other fees. As well as 100 per cent and even 95 per cent mortgages being withdrawn, interest rates have risen, making the cost of borrowing prohibitively high for many first-time buyers.

The British Association of Removers said yesterday that hundreds of workers had been laid off as the trade went through its worst period in 20 years. Business in the first three months of this year was down 40 per cent on last year. Steve Jordan, an association spokesman, said: "The removal market is as bad as 1989-90 and possibly worse."
Source:telegraph.

Have Your Say:

Should estate agents take the blame for pushing house prices too high or are we (home owners) to blame for being greedy by expecting house prices to rise?