‘Real Estate’ News
More urgency in house market
Posted 2008-01-6
One in ten people who are planning on buying a house are bringing forward their plans according to a survey by fool.co.uk. According to the survey 38% of potential house buyers want to buy this year and 34% in 2009. David Kuo, head of personal finance at fool.co.uk said: “The long overdue correction in the property market will allow many people who have been waiting to move house to finally realise their dream. Quite often people will ask how much they can borrow when they want to buy a property. But that is altogether the wrong question. Instead, they should ask themselves how much they can afford to repay.” Fool.co.uk found that in the next five years there will be more sellers than buyers; for every four people looking to buy there will be five sellers. ...
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Greener buildings could affect housing market
Posted 2008-01-5
According to the Home Builders Federation (HBF), environmental issues could affect house buying in the future. Each new house will need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to ensure the house is well insulated and energy efficient. On top of this the government is offering stamp duty exemptions for carbon neutral homes as part of its “Building a Greener Future” policy. John Slaughter, direct of external affairs at the HBF said: “I think that [the EPC] will have some influence on perceptions of purchases. And obviously, if you go back to point about hiking energy prices at the moment, then people will always take more notice things in that climate. The benefit of the EPC is that it will actually raise awareness of the benefits of good levels of energy efficiency and insulation would have – not just running costs but [for the] comfort of the house and so forth.” ...
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Northern Ireland house market cooling
Posted 2007-12-29
Towards the end of 2007, Northern Ireland had the fastest growing rate of house prices in the UK at 24.2% or £150 per day on average. Following a year of huge growth, the Northern Ireland housing market is starting to cool, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Northern Ireland. Sales will increase in 2008, however house sellers will have to be more realistic with asking prices. Tom McClelland, housing spokesperson for the said: “The market changed considerably during the course of 2007 and the new reality is a market where agents have to work harder to achieve sales and sellers have to be more realistic about asking prices” The cooling of the market could help first time buyers, as according to McClelland there is: “Less competition for properties in the sector of the market within the first time buyer’s range.” ...