Buying before the boom?
This week’s house price statistics told a familiar story – they were down again. Halifax recorded a 1.7 per cent drop in the average home sale value to £154,716, down 17.7 per cent in a year and 1.7 per cent in April. The only hint that this was anything other than a continuation of a long-running trend was the slight slowdown in the fall from 1.9 per cent in March. Date: 8 May 2009 • Property prices not all about recession It might seem like an obvious statement to suggest that the recession has had a negative effect on the property market. After all, rising unemployment and falling confidence are hardly the kind of factors conducive to a boom in the way the economic success of the years before 2008 were. Indeed, it could be noted that in the current case, both the decline in the fortunes of the property market and the wider economic crisis have a common origin in the shape of the credit crunch. Date: 1 May 2009 • The need to assess the market When it comes to making decisions about p
