Experts: Crash ''not on the cards''


Mon 5th Nov, 13:49:02 GMT

The housing market is slowing but a crash does not appear imminent, estate agents have claimed.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund warned that Europe could be at risk of seeing a crash similar to the one currently being experienced in the US, while UK mortgage lenders Nationwide and Halifax both predicted that the housing market will continue to slow.

However, Yolande Barnes, head of research at Savills, told the Times that it did not seem likely that Britain would experience a dramatic drop in prices, commenting: "We don''t see falls ahead. Nobody is predicting a widespread recession."

"For the market to fall the way it did in 1989, there would have to be a real crisis in household budgets caused by job losses and recession," she added.

Peter Mackie, partner at buying agency Property Vision, suggested that the market was currently seeing "a flight to quality", with buyers still prepared to pay around the asking price for their dream home but less willing to compromise on price for other properties.

"You won''t get 20 per cent above [asking price], as you could earlier this year. There may be only one or two people fighting over it instead of five," he said.ADNFCR-1143-ID-18342774-ADNFCR


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