Broker and lender optimistic about housing market
June 18, 2009
A major High Street lender and a well known mortgage broker have both made optimistic predictions about the housing market recently, predicting that by the end of this year house prices could start to increase again.
The bank and broker think that the end of this year will see the end of the housing slump, which has seen property prices fall by tens of thousands of pounds since they peaked back in October of 2007.
The bank that has given this optimistic view is High Street banking giant Lloyds TSB, which has a large share of the mortgage market. Its views are shared by the mortgage brokers, John Charcol. Both have said that the expect the housing market to start picking up in terms of value by the autumn of this year, and that by the start of the following year house prices could be back on the rise.
An official from Lloyds TSB said: ‘We are seeing some encouraging signs, particularly if you look at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors figures. These show the number of people looking, and enquiring about property purchase is the highest since March 2003. Stimulating the mortgage market by encouraging house purchasing is an important focus for us.’
An official from John Charcol said: ‘While we shouldn’t overlook the consequences of further redundancies and sharp rises in interest rates round the corner, there’s been a marked change of mood. Estate agents have been reporting increased interest from both first time buyers and movers since the beginning of the year and some of that interest is now translating into sales. The good news on the mortgage front is that over the last few weeks lenders have been increasing the availability of mortgages up to 80% and 85% Loan to Value. I expect the market to stabilise by the third quarter of this year and house prices to show a net fall of only 5% in 2009.’
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