| UK
House Prices Situation: Most areas stagnating, some small
falls
UK
House Prices Forecast: Overall negative outlook for 2008
RICS
Reveals Worst Figures Since 1992
RICS,
the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, this week
revealed its most negative monthly figures since November
1992.
49.2%
more surveyors reported falling house prices
than rising prices in December 2007. This is considerably
worse than November 2007, when the equivalent figure was
40.6%.
House
prices in East Anglia and the West Midlands fared worse
- with only a few areas of Scotland managing small increases.
RICS
spokesman Ian Perry said that "The housing
market is clearly feeling the pinch from the
credit crunch and the round of interest rate hikes in
2007"
RICS
monthly survey of its members is considered a strong indicator
of emerging trends and sentiment in the housing market.
With so many surveyors reporting falls in prices, it seems
inevitable that the general trend will be negative over
the next few months.
UK
Housing Wealth Exceeds £4 Trillion
Despite
all the doom and gloom about the credit crunch and falling
house prices, it is worth stopping to take stock of just
how much housing equity the UK's homeowners actually have.
New
figures published this week by the Halifax show that the
nation's mortgage debt totals around £1.2tn - a
significant amount, but only around 30% of the estimated
£4tn total value of all private housing.
The
significance of these figures for many homeowners should
be that even if house prices fall by
as much as 15% - 20%, many people will still have some
equity left in their properties. This should lessen the
impact of falling house prices for many people.
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