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| UK BANKS TRIGGER PRICE FALLS |
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The first half
of 2008 was a difficult time for the London
residential property market. The banking liquidity crisis
led to the loss of 60% of new enquiries in the sales market,
compared with the first half of 2007, and resulted in a
downturn in transactions that was exacerbated by reports
of consumer confidence hitting the lowest point since 1990.
With fewer enquiries vendors, including some developers,
increasingly looked to the rental sector as part of a longer
term strategy, rather than sell in a buyers’ market. The
private rental sector has provided a lifeline, unlike the
last two major property corrections in the early 1970s and
1990s, when the rental market was not established as a viable
alternative.
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UK banks and building
societies deserted the mainstream mortgage market as they
came to terms with the consequences of their reckless lending
policies of the past decade. The number of mortgage products
available to borrowers sank from 28,400 in June 2007 to just
5,340 in June 2008, a reduction of over 80% (Source: moneysupermarket.com).
As a result prices fell across the whole country, including
London. In Midtown, City and Docklands prices
fell by an average of 9% in the first six months of 2008 (Figure
1), a higher rate of loss than the 5% we predicted in our
end of year report in December 2007.[Views:58] [Jun 23, 2008] |
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Buy-to-Let London
ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (AFP) - Wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara
believes golden oldies Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan
are proving to be the inspiration as Sri Lanka target a
second World Cup title. - [Full Article]
[html]
[Views:108] [may 05, 2008] |
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New Homes London
TARGET: The country’s population is growing at 1.1 per cent
annually, whereas the urban population is growing at a higher
rate of 3 per cent. Trends indicate that more than half
the population of the country would live in urban areas
by 2016, requiri - [Full Article]
[html]
[Views:51] [Apr 07, 2008] |
- UK
property slump not over
Central London property firm Great Portland Estates said
on Wednesday it was too early to talk of a recovery in
Britain's shellshocked property market while the country
remained close to economic peril.
- Interest
rates kept on hold at 5%
UK interest rates have been left unchanged at 5% following
the latest meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC).
- How to choose and manage your estate agent
- These are desperate times for anyone
with a property to sell. As the market continues inexorably
downward, the number of buyers is drying up – property
transactions in May were down by a third compared with
the same time last year, according to figures from HM
Revenue & Customs.
The National Association of Estate Agents, meanwhile,
reports that the average time a property takes to sell
rose to almost 13 weeks in April, up from an average
of 5½ weeks one year earlier, while increasing
numbers of deals are falling through between offer and
completion – almost 13% of them, against just 8% this
time last year.
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| First
time buyers |
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| Over the past
few years, the property market has been moving very fast and
has led to significant increases in property prices. This
has made it very difficult for many people to afford to buy
a home |
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