Homeowners not Moving

While the country is going through a credit crunch many homeowners are far too nervous about their financial situation to progress further up the property ladder. Due to the turbulence of the UK’s current property market close to 10% of property owners who were planning to move have decided to hold off for at least 6 months. The local man and van service has been hit badly by this turn of events with business competing for leads and costs not necessarily converting into removals jobs.

Some banks have suggested that the ongoing limitation of mortgages available and the fall of property prices due to the credit crunch have resulted in this confidence crunch of the property owners in the UK. This has had a knock on affect on many related industries with many removals London based complaining that business is barely ticking over.
Those homeowners who have decided to delay their planned move are hoping that conditions in the property market will improve. Around 36% of homeowners think that property prices will continue to fall and up to 37% said that the rising cost of living would prevent them moving. Many of the homeowners thought that it could take up to 2 years for the housing market to stabilise and one out of four believed that they would struggle to get a mortgage. Even with these alarming figures it is very unlikely that a homeowner who intends to make a new purchase will put it off due to finding it difficult to find a suitable mortgage. There are still a wide variety of mortgage products available in the market and it is a matter of purchasers gaining back confidence in the property market.

Recently there appears to be a trend in cautious valuations for mortgages this means that although property prices have fallen, valuations for mortgages are coming up lower than homeowners are expecting. This can leave them in a difficult situation; 2 months ago this exact situation happened when our mortgage was due for renewal. We had borrowed money in a secured loan as well as from our parents. It was fine to continue the secured loan payments although if a cheaper rate could have been achieved it would have been incorporated with the remortgage. The funds had been used to carry out a large extension on our property to increase its value and accommodate our growing family. As the property came in with a much lower value than expected we could not even borrow the extra to give back to our parents. Luckily they are very understanding and know we will pay them as soon as possible. As many mortgage lenders are being cautious with the amount of loan to value on a property it feels like they have got complete control and there is no easy option for us to pay our parents.
The bridging finance market is actually surviving well considering the market climate at this present time with many homeowners completing their purchase before the completion of their own sale. Our favourite people the Estate Agent’s have had a tough time of it with many branches shutting up shop and others making cut backs. Estate Agents are not my favourite people; before they became more regulated I paid over the odds for a property as my bids were not offered to the vendor. I found this out from the vendor who said thank you for offering the asking price straight away. I didn’t do anything as we wanted the sale to complete without any problems. So it is a great improvement now that they are more regulated but it has left a distaste for Estate Agents I’m afraid.

Jenny Austin is an expert in removals, as a fully qualified financial advisor she can provide advice on remortgages