First quarter of 2009 will be ‘optimum’ time for first time buyers
1 December 2008
First time buyers must act soon to take advantage of low house prices, property specialist movewithus has warned. Robin King, movewithus founding director, believes that the first quarter of 2009 will be the optimum period for first time buyers to purchase as low house prices are coupled with a need by home builders and lenders to sell second hand part-exchange and repossession stock.
Almost all of the UK’s home builders have announced a drawing down of their build schedules to limit their losses as the housing market slows. To maintain a steady income, they are selling their stock of second hand properties which they have acquired in part-exchange sales, often including incentives such as help with deposit payments to attract buyers. They will also be looking to sell any new build properties which they have speculatively built in the past year at cheap prices.
Lenders are also looking to reduce their losses by selling their stock of repossessed properties. However, King warns that, due to the Government’s drive to reduce repossessions and the speed at which part-exchange properties are selling, these supplies of properties will diminish within the next few months.
Robin King said: “The most popular properties with our estate agency network by far are part-exchange and repossession properties, which home builders and lenders are pricing to sell, not to make profits. However, buyers need to act now – the supply of these properties is finite and they’re selling incredibly fast. Through white hot property, our sister company who specialise in developer part-exchange and lender repossession sales, close to 40 per cent are selling each month.”
King believes that after the first quarter of 2009, the increasing availability of credit will bring ‘aspirational’ buyers and investor buyers back to the market which, coupled with a diminishing supply of homes, will lead to rising house prices. It is a view shared by the Centre for Economic Business and Research and the National Housing Federation, who have both predicted a surge in house prices in 2009 and 2010 as the supply of new properties falls.
King continued: “Many first time buyers have been holding off buying as they try and judge the optimal moment to enter the housing market. By late spring next year, home builders will have sold most of their part-exchange stock and the number of repossession properties for sale will have fallen dramatically, which is why I urge them to take advantage now. For the next six months, it’s going to be a buyer’s market. After that, the pendulum will swing back to sellers.”
Source
http://www.movewithus.co.uk/00,news,56952,185,00.htm (launches a new window)
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