The Federation of House Builders Regains a Small Amount of Optimism in the U.K. Property Market

For anyone with a home on the market and seeking a Quick Property Sale there could be some encouraging news from the National Federation of House Builders (NFHB). They have become upbeat about the United Kingdom property market with signals that there may be an upturn.

This is due to a study of their members, home building businesses throughout the UK. Their members were asked if they had noticed any increase in sales activity over the last twelve months and 60 % of members confirmed that they had. This means that buyers of brand new homes are finally starting to rise.

There will be a doubly positive outcome from this on house sales and the ability of sellers to get a quick property sale. Firstly, an increase in buyers for new homes more or less certainly indicates an increase in buyers for existing homes. It is a sign of returning belief amongst buyers and whilst that will not inevitably push prices up, it will at least stabilise them and everyone looking to Sell Home Fast can take reassurance from this.

Secondly, an improvement in the new build zone will help to reverse the employment losses seen in the construction industry. NFHB estimate that 250,000 construction roles have vanished in the recent economic downturn, and there will have been more job losses in connected industries, such as plant, materials and distribution. A reversal in this trend will flow through the economy generally and can only have a positive result on buyer belief. As the prospect of further job losses begins to reduce potential buyers will start to return to the market. Once begun the cycle of recovery will become self fulfilling.

In the meantime however, NFHB warn that there remains one potential issue around the start of a proper recovery and that is the availability of mortgages. Bank mortgage lending is still at exceptionally low levels, around half of usual levels. So even if buyers do now feel certain enough to enter into purchasing a property, they may be constrained from doing so by the unavailability of a mortgage.

So mortgage accessibility would appear to be the last ingredient in reviving the market. Those buyers demanding that their estate agents “Sell my Home fast” need to realise that the issue may not be with the estate agents. However, given the balance of government will to raise lending and steer clear of the credit bubble which caused much of the current difficulties, it seems likely that mortgage lending will increase in a steady way. It seems unlikely that there will be a abrupt explosion in availability, the growth will be gentle with mortgage criteria remaining cautious in the short term. Perhaps this steady recovery will lead to some long term strength which will be of advantage to buyers and sellers alike.