The property market doom and gloom is underway in 2012 with the council of mortgage lenders warning that likely increases in unemployment will cause property repossessions to increase during the year. Increased unemployment will obviously have a huge increase on the property market, repossessions are likely to increase and the uncertainty created will mean fewer buyers in the market therefore driving prices down. It’s never been more crucial to set the correct prices when looking to make a quick house sale. The prediction from the CML is that repossessions could be up by as much as 30% on last year. Combine all this information and it leads most experts to predict that 2012 will have fewer sales than ever experienced in recent memory.

2011 has seen little happen in the property market. Few sales and little overall movement have created an uneventful year. Sales are down on previous years and prices have continued to fall. So what will 2012 bring. Well most believe more of the same. There will awash be a reluctance to drop the house of the price you’re selling but ultimately, with such few buyers in the market vendors looking to make a quick house sale have little option.

Pricing your property at the right level (especially if you looking to make a quick house sale) is essential. During 2011 the pace of house sales slowed to a level not experienced in years and sold prices are in decline. With this in mind, it should come as a shock to most people that research has revealed that asking prices actually increased during the year.

In our experience it is very common for asking prices to not truly reflect a houses value but this research even shocked us. The difference in the movement of sold prices and asking prices could be either unrealistic expectations of the seller or over pricing by the agent in order to get the business. Either way, we believe it is essential that a seller knows the true value of their property (even if they intend to market it higher to begin with). You can find our guide to pricing your home here. Use this to understand what sale price to expect and market the property at the correct level to get the most interest.

Well not if 2011 is anything to go by.

If you are one of the people struggling to sell their property in 2011, trust me you’re not alone. 2011 was the worst year for property sales in 40 years and was nearly 50% lower (in terms of property turnover) than 2007. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel for anyone looking to sell their property. During next year (2012) the slump in sales is expected to continue. 

So what are the options if you need to sell? In our experience, we have seen a large inbalance between the sellers expected price and how much buyers are currently expecting to pay. Put your self in the perspective of a buyer. You know that the property market is struggling and you know sellers are having a hard time making a sale, so in your mind you hold all the cards. Why would you pay over the odds?

If you are a seller an need to make a quick house sale give us a call and we will help you aim your property at the correct level in the market to target the right buyers, alternatively we can take the pain out of selling for you and buy your property from you.

The most recent figures show that during the month of September house prices fell once again. On overage the property prices in England fell by 0.3% in September which brings the overall drop this year up to 2.3%. This means that the average property price has fallen by over £5000 so far this year.

Its not all doom and gloom. Prices have made improvements since the worst days of the crash. Prices are 9.2% higher than they were ar their lowest.

What the future holds is anyones guess now. We may see prices remain at a similar level for the next few years but if the warning signs of the double dip are to be believed prices may be lower than ever in the coming months.

Last week saw a £64bn drop in the value of Britain’s leading shares due to widespread concerns in the market over the possibility of a double-dip recession

The double dip (should it come) would have a huge impact on employment, living standards and more importantly (to you and me) property prices.  

Is it all bad news?

Well no. carefully predicting this double dip could have it advantages for home owners. If you were to sell your property now (even at a lower value than you may think its worth) you could potentially buy an equivalent property at a much lower price when the double dip hits. 

So why are we offering you a quick house sale if prices could fall? 

Simple, we are in it for the long haul, so we believe that, while this is a dangerous time to buy, we will own the property we buy for many years and prices will ultimately return to the level they were in 2008.

According to Nationwide’s national survey house prices dropped by 0.6% in August. This easily reverses the slight increase we experienced in July and is not in line with most economists’ predictions.

The snap shop of the market provided by the nationwide indicates that the average house price in the UK fell by £2,817 over the month.

The Nationwide also stated that over the last 3 months (which is a less volatile measure) prices have increased by 0.1%. Although this is much lower than the 0.3% experienced over the previous 3 months.

As mentioned previously, property prices have reduced or remained stagnant throughout the majority of this year. One statistic that is not stagnant is the number of unsold properties on the market with an estate agent.

Seven out of ten properties placed on the market this year have remained unsold. We have covered many ways to increase your chances to make a quick house sale on the open market and you can find these tips by clicking here.

It is important to remember that many other properties on the market means more competition for you. The best advice we can offer in times like these is know the property worth and don’t over price yours. We have seen many occasions recently where the agent has valued the property £10,000 over the market value. This price is likely to put buyers off and will not get the viewings you need in order to sell your property.

Property prices remained stagnant in the month of June, with slow economic development not strong enough to reinvigorate the market, according to the Nationwide building society. While prices remain unchanged from the previous month, prices are down -1.1%  so far this year.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “Stability remained the theme in June with house prices flat over the month. This left them 1.1% below the level prevailing in June 2010.

“At 0.3%, the three-month-on-three-month measure of house prices was slightly weaker than the 0.6% pace of increase recorded in May.”

He also commented that there had been “few encouraging developments” for households, employment is increasing and consumer confidence seems to be on the up, but he also commented that demand within the property market was low due to the financial struggle most people are facing.

“Ultimately, these positives have not been enough to make up for the ongoing squeeze on households. With debt levels still high, the need to repair household finances is undiminished,” he said.

“However, sluggish economic growth and wages rising at less than half the rate of inflation means consumers are struggling to make progress in repairing their finances.”

House prices have been supported by fewer properties being built, while the interest rate has remained low which helps loan affordability and ensures the are fewer distressed sales in the market.

“It’s hard to make the case for prices rising or falling sharply over the remainder of 2011 if the economy develops as we expect,” Gardner said. “Economic growth looks set to gather pace in the months ahead, but is likely to remain unspectacular. This in turn points to only modest gains in employment and sluggish wage increases, which will continue to keep many potential buyers on the sidelines.”

However, Howard Archer from IHS Global Insight said he expects that prices will probably trend down for the rest of the tear. “We suspect that modest overall falls in house prices are more likely than not over the second half of 2011 and the first half of 2012.

“On balance, we believe that house prices are likely to fall by around 8% overall from current levels on the Nationwide measure by mid-2012.”

He added: “Not only do economic fundamentals remain difficult overall for the housing market, but the May survey from Rics indicated that more houses are coming on to the market, thereby diluting the possibility that a shortage of properties could provide significant support to house prices.”

Nicholas Ayre, a director of UK buying agents Home Fusion, said: “Consumer confidence is flat, the economy is flat and so the property market is flat, too.

“This week saw May mortgage approvals come in far weaker than expected and so the story looks set to continue.

“It’s surely no surprise that the market is as it is: directionless and flat. We have strikes at home, austerity riots abroad, an imploding high street and an economy on its knees.

“The saving grace of the property market is low interest rates, which look set to remain that way for some time yet given the disarray of the economy. Amid the chaos, there are at least formidable buying opportunities for those with the finance and confidence to make their move.”

Again it seems the crystal balls of the experts are not saying the same things which has been the case from the majority of the past few years. our opinion at quick house sale remains the same as in previous posts, The property market is current stagnant (just about), some area are enjoying increasing prices while other are in decline but overall no major changes can be expected for at least the next year. If you looking to sell the yes, you might experience a slight decline from the moment you advertise your property but overall this will be a minor movement, work out the best sales option for you in the current conditions or even better, give us a call and allow us to work it out for you.

At Quick house sale we have firsthand experience of some of the dangers of having a property left empty. Many people have no awareness of these issues so this post is to describe the issues we have personally had. The reason for highlighting this is that most people are not aware of the potential cost of an empty property.

During the winter before last we had a property in Huddersfield and the tenant moved out just before Christmas. This is a very difficult time to attract another tenant so the property was empty for a short period. A week before the new tenant was due to move in a workman visited to make sure everything was on order and the pipes has burst. This was a pipe in the bathroom so water had leaked through the floor and the ceiling had part fallen in down stairs. The total cost of repair was £4000.

Over the next winter we had another property empty so (learning from our mistake) we left the heating on low to avoid this issue. For the 3 months the property was empty the cost of heating was £450

The most recent issue we encountered is how attractive empty properties are to criminals. The price for scrap metal (especially copper) at the moment is the highest its ever been and many properties are broken into simply for the copper from the heating system and sometimes even for the wiring from the electricity system. The total cost of replacing this can be astronomical. Not only will you need full wiring, heating, plastering and flooring you will likely also have flood damage from the water that should be pumped into the heating system. The total cost of this could be as high as £30,000.

Many of our customers approach us with a property that is empty and many more people leave an empty house on the open market and wait for a buyer to come along. Our advice is simple, if you have an empty property get a quick house sale and give all the above risk to someone else.