The UK housing market isn’t fairing good.  How bad it is and whether it is on the mend is hard to call.  It can be a difficult decision as to whether one should buy, sell, or remortgage.  About the only thing for sure is that if you are a landlord, the buy to let market is flourishing. 

The current housing market is full of unsold homes and more coming to market.  Buyers are few and partially because they cannot obtain lending and also because there just aren’t any.  Those wanting to buy are finding it difficult to obtain the high deposits required to obtain lending.  Though lending criteria has eased, it has still been much tougher than in the past with few high loan-to-value offers available.  Without buyers providing a demand for properties, sellers are pushed to lower their asking prices to sell.  Most areas in the UK have declining house prices, except for those in and around London.   

Since there are fewer houses being sold, it only reasons that instead of buying most households are renting.  This is why the buy to let market is booming.  Quality properties are hard to find, waiting lists exist, and there have been increases in rental costs.  Most landlords are finding it quite easy to fill a vacancy.

Remortgaging is impacted by a lot of issues in the housing market.  Lending for remortgages has had tough criteria as well, but again, in this area there has been a loosening of the reigns and more homeowners are getting approvals now.  Also, as prices have declined, so has the value of properties causing a loss of equity.  Homeowners without good equity levels will find they are not within reach of the best remortgage deals.  Some homeowners have found themselves with homes declining in value to under their current mortgage debt which means they are approaching negative equity.  Homeowners have found that due to the lack of demand from borrowers, lenders are offering good remortgage deals with great rates accompanied by attractive incentives such as free valuations and legal work. 

How the housing market is fairing is hard to decide because we are still in such a difficult time.  Despite the bleak outlook there are silver linings for those willing to look.  House prices are lower, giving more value to the pound for buyers.  Sellers who lose money on a deal will find they turn around and gain more for their money as well when they upgrade in a home buy.  For those choosing mortgage and remortgage lending the interest rate is historically low at 0.5 per cent and it won’t stay there indefinitely.  Every housing market conditions has its ups and downs, the way to decipher all the data is to determine how the current situation can assist you financially now.