Enquiries going up, but less sales

Chris2685

Article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4963086/Home-buyer-enquiries-rise-but-fail-to-translate-into-sales-RICS-says.html

A thing that annoyed me was this comment from "Nick Talbot, a RICS member based in North Yorkshire":

General enquiries have increased with more people looking at property. However, potential buyers are reluctant to commit and make offers at a reasonable level.

What a cheeky boy! Surely it is sellers who are reluctant to price at an affordable/realistic level, rather than buyers? It seems to me that people who are buying are still going to the tops of their budgets as it is.

ad44downey

"Homebuyers are returning to the market, but they are still unable to get mortgages - leaving sales at an all-time low, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors announced today."


Thank god for that. Buyers need protecting from themselves. They'd constitute the next wave of negative equity/repossessions if banks were silly enough to lend to them..

overlander

ad44downey wrote: »

Thank god for that. Buyers need protecting from themselves. They'd constitute the next wave of negative equity/repossessions if banks were silly enough to lend to them..

So true its just staggering how stupid people can be, they really do indeed need protecting from themselves, how sad.

thriftybabe

Builders we have worked have been saying that the interest has been there throughout this downturn. However some have said that they are seeing an increase in sales. I believe this is due to their heavily discounted stock houses.

ukcarper

Negative equity doesn’t = repossession if you can afford you’re Mortgage it doesn’t matter if your house is in negative equity. I’m not saying negative equity isn’t a bad thing just not every body in negative equity will be repossessed.

penguine

ukcarper wrote: »

Negative equity doesn’t = repossession if you can afford you’re Mortgage it doesn’t matter if your house is in negative equity. I’m not saying negative equity isn’t a bad thing just not every body in negative equity will be repossessed.

If interest rates go back up (as they are almost certain to do in a few years' time) then many of those in negative equity who can't remortgage onto a fixed rate are likely to have difficulties meeting their mortgage payments.

This article includes a scary chart on what will happen to those on an interest-only £150k mortgage if the base rate returns to 5.50% (last year's level).

But you're right, not everyone in negative equity will get repossessed.

4littleone

I work in construction related industry. We are seeing lots of enquiries and sales are starting to pick up a little.
February was awful, worse than January for us because we supply materials to the construction industry and of course there were a lot of missed days in Feb with the snow etc.

Some of my clients are the major housebuilders, before christmas it was very much doom and gloom, lots of the new start up sites were being mothballed indefinitely.
I am now being told to gear up for sites starting, we have three large housebuilding sites starting up this month alone.

I would be cautious about classing this as "green shoots" but i don't think it's a "dead cat's bounce" either.

I think this year and the first part of next will be very very hard. A case of last man standing for a few industries. Materials costs are going up but demand and credit for buying supplies has dipped considerably.

I genuinely believe that until credit becomes more available to businesses and the general public this will not ease.

It's not always a case that people need saving from themselves, that's a pretty generic view and not an accurate one.
There are plenty of people out there who can afford the repayments comfortably, don't want a huge 100% mortgage and have a decent deposit..... but they still have a large amount of trouble getting a lender.
If you prevent the "decent" buyer from entering the market then it's pretty much a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Not good for the economy at all.

Credit isn't always a bad thing, if it's used responsibly it's a useful tool.

chewmylegoff

ukcarper wrote: »

I’m not saying negative equity isn’t a bad thing just not every body in negative equity will be repossessed.

wow, a quadruple negative

Dan:_4

penguine wrote: »

If interest rates go back up (as they are almost certain to do in a few years' time) then many of those in negative equity who can't remortgage onto a fixed rate are likely to have difficulties meeting their mortgage payments.

This article includes a scary chart on what will happen to those on an interest-only £150k mortgage if the base rate returns to 5.50% (last year's level).

But you're right, not everyone in negative equity will get repossessed.

I thanked you for this post because I found the article interesting.

However, I wouldn't say the chart is scary - it is just showing what we were paying in 2008. If you could afford it then, it is likely you can again.

Hopefully people will be using this 'windfall' to make significant overpayments or better still, pay down existing unsecured debt.

Austin_Allegro

ad44downey wrote: »

"Homebuyers are returning to the market, but they are still unable to get mortgages - leaving sales at an all-time low, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors announced today."


Thank god for that. Buyers need protecting from themselves. They'd constitute the next wave of negative equity/repossessions if banks were silly enough to lend to them..

LOL if 'homebuyers' need mortgages which they can't get, then in what sense are they 'buyers' or 'returning to the market'?

If I press my greasy nose against the Bentley car showroom window, look through my pocket fluff and see I only have an Irish tuppence, does this make me a carbuyer returning to the market?

FoxtonsRIP

Dan: wrote: »

Hopefully people will be using this 'windfall' to make significant overpayments or better still, pay down existing unsecured debt.

More likely they'll shop till they drop or drink it down the pub