Housing Market to End Stronger at End of Year
The housing market has been weak over the past few months without buyers coming to the market. Supply has long outnumbered the number of buyers and homeowners have seen their equity decline as property values declined. The good news is that experts believe that things are looking more positive. The numbers for the third quarter are expected to show that the UK economy has stepped out of the double dip recession. The housing market is expected to do better now that the supply of properties coming to the market is slowing and that mortgage loans are more attractive. Buyers are expected to return to the market.
The Funding for Lending scheme offered to lenders by the Bank of England is also expected to give a boost to the housing market as it allows lenders to fund their mortgage loans at cheaper interest rates. This transfers to the consumer as lower interest rates on loans including mortgages. Some lenders have lowered mortgage loans on high level loan to value mortgages to levels beneath the 3% interest rate level as a result of the cheaper rates they are getting from the Funding for Lending scheme.
According to several reports on the housing market the month of September was relatively uneventful with most reports showing either no growth or very little decrease. Experts believe that the real benefit will begin to be seen at the end of the year and therefore 2012 will close out with a stronger housing market than what was seen in the third quarter of the year.