The overall growth and decline of individual world markets in the real estate sector during 2009 provided excellent insight for predicting the expansion of letting markets during the coming year. The strongest activity for increases was found in the lettings markets, where continued favourable outlooks are expected in the majority of world markets.

Countries that fared the worst during 2009 saw only slight declines, where the significance was low in comparison to the previous year’s decline. This factor alone offers a positive light with the knowledge that the worst of the crisis in the world real estate market appears to be entering the light of recovery.

Whether 2010 offers extensive overall improvements in comparison to 2009 still remains to be seen, yet investor confidence is growing as market rebounds offer positive expectations. Sustainable markets that were experiencing positive growth prior to 2007 have remained the favourite contenders for investors planning to enter buy-to-let markets in 2010. (more…)

The UK property market appears to be slowly recovering from the severe drop the sector has experienced in recent times. Although the market does not appear ready to spring back to its former glory, signs of recovery are slowly relieving homeowners of a large burden.

The recovery has been established from the latest housing sales statistics released recently, displaying increases in all areas of sales. Calculating the statistics of the number of average sales in the three month period until the end of July, the trimester resulted in an average of 2 additional sales to the previous trimester in the months ending in June.

While the increase in the average number of sales is quite low, the fact that sales are increasing monthly, provides a positive outlook for the remainder of the year. Some debates have emerged from the release of the statistics relating to the undersupply of housing currently on the market. This shortage of available housing for sale is presumed by analysts to be from owners preferring to hold onto their properties whenever possible, waiting for the market to improve. (more…)

According to the Times Online, if the cost of home loans fell by a further half-point, the current worsening housing market situation could be over as soon as next year

Morgan Stanley’s chief UK economist, David Miles, said that if mortgage rates stayed at present levels, an educated guess from sophisticated economic estimates was that house prices would fall by another 5 to 10 per cent and wipe a further £17,000 off the value of an average home before the market bottomed out next year.

However, Professor Miles, who previously has advised Gordon Brown, added that if a recent decline in the cost of mortgage funding continued, price falls could soon end.

Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee, he said: “If the cost of funding to lenders were to move down half a point, then the 5 to 10 per cent fall could turn into a much smaller number, or not much at all.”

To read the full article, click here.