UK Property Market
Friday March 28th 2008
The pressures of the credit crunch have turned the UK residential property sector into a 'buyer's market,' but figures continue to show pockets of more positive performance.Calling for pessimism to be stemmed and individual trends to be focused on, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) claimed that a "dull" housing market in places was not an inevitable sign of full recession.
Members of the group were reported to have experienced a downturn in the number of buyers on their books through February and tabled sale prices increasingly diverging from asking prices, but signs for optimism were also detected.
NAEA President, Stewart Lilly said: "The figures reported in February echo the current climate of confusion that is clouding the property market at present."
The pressures of the global credit crunch were acknowledged, but the organisation claimed that "central London and a few other major cities [are] continuing to keep up a regular pace," meaning that "overall the market remains steady despite many external pressures".
He added that the Bank of England could now turn the balance positive by lowering interest rates and giving consumers a renewed sense of optimism.