Sellers Forced to Slash prices by £17,000 in Past Fortnight Alone
Vendors have dropped average asking prices by £17,000 in the past fortnight in a desperate attempt to secure a sale before Christmas.

Prices have been cut by an average of £16,941 – a national decline of 6.5 per cent, according to property search engine Globrix.

The figures vary according to regions across the country. London has seen the biggest falls, with sellers in Westminster having £108,166 knocked off the price of their home.

It is the latest sign that sellers are adjusting to lower prices, having been in denial for months.

Cities such as Bristol and Southampton have seen lower declines in asking prices, but they are still above the national average, dropping by £20,452 and £19,200 respectively in the last two weeks, according to the survey.

Asking prices have been cut by £9,362 in Birmingham, £16,787 in Manchester, £12,347 in Leeds, £9,358 in Liverpool, £13,777 in Nottingham, £11,912 in Norwich, £9,041 in Glasgow and £15,547 in Cardiff.

Daniel Lee, director of Globrix, said: “There is no doubt that now and the months ahead are a great opportunity for cash buyers and people with the finance in place to move quickly.  

“Buyers are now in complete control and sellers are finally understanding that if they want to sell in this market then they may have to accept an offer they wouldn’t have even considered six months ago.” 

SH Note: It’s very difficult to believe accurate figures could have been calculated over the past two weeks alone. It’s good publicity for Globrix but these figures should be viewed with caution. Won’t help market confidence though. 

But Pace of Price Falls, Slows: Nationwide
The Nationwide says prices fell just 0.4 per cent in November – the smallest monthly drop since the start of the collapse a year ago. It says average prices fell by £430 in November to £158,442, compared with a much sharper drop of 1.3 per cent in October. It brings the annual rate of decline down to 13.9 per cent from 14.6 per cent.

The average home in the UK is worth about £25,000 less than it was a year ago and Nationwide’s chief economist Fionnuala Earley warned that the UK housing market is not about to stage a recovery just yet.

“In spite of the moderation in house price falls recorded in November, with the economy in recession, conditions do not appear very favourable for a swift recovery in the housing market,” she said.

“The labour market is weakening, which will inevitably hinder market demand, particularly when property remains expensive relative to earnings. With prices falling at their current rate there is also little incentive for new borrowers to hurry into the market.”

The hope now is that the BoE’s interest rate cuts will start to have an effect before prices fall further.

Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight said that the 0.4 per cent fall in prices in November was much smaller than expected, but still expects UK house prices to fall by a further 15 per cent in November, on top of an estimated 14.5 per cent fall this year.

“We doubt very much that the markedly reduced monthly drop in house prices in November marks the start of an improving trend for house prices as the fundamentals remain largely unfavourable.”

New Mortgage Lending to Fall Below Zero
UK households are expected to pay back more money to lenders next year than they take out in new mortgages. The Crosby report into mortgage financing said repayments and redemptions will outpace lending in 2009 as the slump in the housing market deepens.

It comes as latest lending figures show there has been a 52 per cent fall in mortgage lending over the past year.

Sir James said: “I believe that new net mortgage lending is likely to fall below zero in 2009, with only a modest recovery likely in 2010.

Ray Boulger, of mortgage brokers John Charcol, said: “It means the recovery in the market is going to be delayed. For the banking sector to see a recovery and begin lending again, the property market must stabilise.”

David Dooks, statistics director of the BBA, said: “Comparison of current lending levels with last year is obscured by the very different economic conditions that exist now, reflecting a much reduced appetite for borrowing.”

SH Note: While this may seem like bad news, it will help lenders rebuild their balance sheets and once this is accomplished, they feel readier to lend again at competitive rates.
 

 
Darling Promises to Help Buyers Get Mortgages
The Chancellor used his pre-Budget report this week to reiterate his determination to help potential home buyers access mortgages.

He said he would deliver a detailed scheme to boost lending by next Spring in line with the principal recommendation of the Crosby report.

The scheme would involve government supporting the mortgage market by providing, for a temporary period, guarantees for securities backed by new mortgages.

To implement this recommendation, he said, the government would need to obtain State Aid approval from the European Commission.

“But we will proceed to work up a detailed scheme based on his recommendations and seek State Aid approval to proceed. I will report back by the Budget,” he said.

The chancellor also said he is setting up a new body called the Lending Panel which will monitor lending to both business and households. It will bring together the government, lenders, trade bodies, consumer groups, regulators and the Bank of England to monitor lending levels and practices by banks.

As part of a programme to accelerate capital spending the chancellor will also be bringing forward £775 million this year and next to invest in new social homes as well as regeneration projects. This money is in addition to the £750 million announced in September.
 

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National Association of Registered Home Inspectors Shut Down
The National Association of Registered Home Inspectors has been scrapped following the government’s u-turn on compulsory Home Condition Reports in sellers’ packs.
Launched in January 2006, NARHI was to be the trade body for Home Inspectors.

Although the Government said at the time that it would make HCRs mandatory if there was insufficient voluntary take-up, it has always failed to do so and now appears to have ruled out any idea of a comeback for HCRs.

Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy, chairman of NARHI, is outraged. He said HCRs were the most useful component of HIPs and that even recent research for CLG had noted that “most buyers and sellers said that the inclusion of the HCR would vastly improve perceptions of the HIP overall”.

But NARHI also failed to recruit members, admitting that many who had spent time and considerable personal expense in undertaking the training to become Home Inspectors had either moved on or pursued careers as energy assessors.

NARHI said that Energy Performance Certificates were fine, but only as part of a more extensive report on the property: if the property itself was in poor condition, then energy savings recommendations “may well prove a waste of time and money”.

SH Note:  Difficult to justify sellers’ packs without HCRs.

Planning Review to Speed Up Applications
A new review of the planning applications process, seeking to make the system less bureaucratic and costly, was launched this week.

The Killian Pretty review makes 17 recommendations for improving planning by tackling issues of efficiency, process and proportionality – that is, assuring the system for smaller developments is appropriate. The review suggests that if the recommendations are followed through, they could prompt savings of almost £300 million a year for applicants, planning authorities and the economy as a whole.

Andrew Whitaker, planning director of the HBF, said: “This is an extremely important review and a recipe for common sense which should have far reaching implications on what has become an increasingly complex, costly and time consuming part of the development process.”

SH Note:  Potentially very useful. But we’ve had reviews galore of this type before and for some reason nothing much seems to change. 

Planning Councillor Investigated for Building Adventure Fort Without Permission
A councillor who sits on a planning committee may have to demolish a wooden fort he built in his garden without planning consent.

Peter Roberts, a carpenter, built the climbing frame in his back garden when 11-year-old Bethany and Josh, seven, complained of having nowhere to play.

He spent £200 on a slide, swing and basketball hoop and then used excess timber from his work to fashion a 12ft by 12ft fort.

Despite standing for nearly three years without a single complaint from neighbours, local council chiefs have now launched an investigation after an anonymous tip-off.

Letters were sent to the family’s home in the village of Oulton, Staffordshire, and inspectors were dispatched to examine the “unauthorised play structure”.  

Mr Roberts, 42, is fuming. “This is an isolated place and there isn’t a lot to do around here for the kids so I decided to build them an adventure play fort,” he said. 

“The council are just trying to get money out of my pocket and all because an anonymous member of the public has taken umbrage to it.”

A council spokesman said: “Stafford Borough Council has a duty to investigate any complaint about an alleged planning control breach.”

SH Note: Ah well, they don’t like it up ‘em!

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