Bouncebackability test comes now

Released on: February 19, 2008, 5:47 am

Press Release Author: Jim watson

Industry: Real Estate

Press Release Summary: Those looking at the possibilities of investing in property
in UK will be concerned with many issues.

Press Release Body: Those looking at the possibilities of investing in property in
UK will be concerned with many issues. One will be the economy as a whole, with some
doom-mongers still predicting that Britain will catch America\'s cold and plunge into
recession. Others may take a more subtle view, that a major economic downturn will
be avoided but there will be a slump in the property market.

Yet for those with an optimistic view of the future, a number of green shoots may be
appearing. Firstly, some new surveys has shown slight rises in UK house prices. The
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has revealed a small increase
in house prices of 0.4 per cent in England and Wales, while the Financial Times
index for January has shown a 0.1 per cent rise in the same parts of the UK. While
these figures may exclude Northern Ireland, where prices have fallen, they also
exclude Scotland, which the Halifax recently revealed to be the best-performing
region for property price appreciation in the last quarter of 2007.

Responding to the DCLG figures, Ed Stansfield, a property economist with Capital
Economics, told PA News that he believed the recent base rate cut would not have
much impact on the sector and that the figures had shown an overall slowdown in the
house price inflation rate, noting the annual figure was down to 9.1 per cent in
December compared with 9.7 per cent in November.

Yet a very different view has been expressed by Ross Bowen, managing director of
Connells Survey and Valuation. The estate agency\'s own figures had revealed a rise
in mortgage approvals in January, up to 75,300 from December\'s 73,000. Were one to
view this figure in isolation, it would look poor, with Connells noting this was 38
per cent down on last year and the lowest total in the first month of the year since
the agency started the survey in 1994.

However, the context which saw the number of approvals rising might suggest better
times on the way, said Mr Bowen. While he acknowledged this was just one month\'s
figures, Mr Bowen noted that agents in the firm has seen \"a rise in housing stock
coming onto the market and renewed interest from househunters\".

Moreover, in contrast with Mr Stansfield, he suggested the latest base rate rise
could indeed provide a property market boost, just as long as lenders passed on the
cut to their variable rate mortgages holders. So far several major lenders - such as
Abbey, First Direct, Alliance & Leicester and the Co-Operative Bank - have announced
they are doing so.

Even among those who have recorded a fall in house prices there is optimism. One
example is that of Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Economics
and Business Research (CEBR). Commenting on figures complied by his organisation for
the Chesterton Poll of Polls for January - which overall revealed that the average
house price survey last month recorded a 0.3 per cent reduction in prices - Mr
McWilliams suggested that the situation indicated a correction, not a crash, adding
that this meant the present time was an ideal one for investors.

He said: \"I think these figures show that now is the perfect time to buy. There is a
wide range of properties on the market and some bargains to be had.\"

Thus while there are many pessimists about and there may well be for some time yet,
there are still plenty of experts on the property industry who suspect now could be
a fine time to invest as the market starts to recover, with prices beginning to go
up, mortgages numbers on the upturn and interest rates coming down. The property
market may be about to reveal its bouncebackability.

In today\'s world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially
investment in UK

Web Site: http://www.assetz.co.uk/

Contact Details: Address:Assetz House, Newby Road, Stockport,Cheshire

zip:SK7 5DA

ph:0845 400 7000

fax:0845 400 6010

email:linkexchangeseo@gmail.com

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