Knight Frank Report on the UK Property Market for 2008-2009 – news for property investors

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Key Highlights:

UK residential prices will fall 30% from their peak, taking values back to September 2003 levels

Sales volumes will hit a low point in late 2008, at only around 30% of their long term average

Sales volumes will recover to reach 60% of their long run average by the second half of 2009

Development land values outside London are already down 33% from their peak, with a further 15% to go in 2009

Equity rich investors and speculators are already in the market, targeting distressed land and property sales

The top of the agricultural land market has been reached, we expect price falls of up to 10% from the 2008 peak

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Liam Bailey, head of residential research, Knight Frank commented:

“The central question for anyone who owns their own home is – when will prices stop falling? Our forecast suggests that we will be closing in on the bottom of the market during late 2009 / early 2010.

“Prices in the UK peaked in late 2007 and have fallen sharply since that point. Our forecast suggests that we are now at least half way through the process of price falls, with around 15% of an estimated 30% peak-to-trough decline already factored into prices.

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“Some markets are experiencing very different conditions from the national or regional average. The regional new build sector has already seen substantial price falls, with examples of 50% or more in several locations. It looks as if price declines are already coming to a close here – with investors sensing that “fair pricing” is almost at hand.

“Prices will take some time to recover to their 2007 peak, a process which, on average, will be complete by 2015, led by central London (2012) and concluded by Northern Ireland (2019).

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“Our recovery picture is based on the assumption that mortgage providers will adopt a far more conservative lending approach once the credit crunch unravels. However, it is also worth noting that we do not have the oversupply problems of Spain and the US, and, indeed, a shortage of housing will become more apparent with time. Whilst a market peak is hard to spot, so too is the bottom of the market. There are lots of buyers watching the residential market very closely, and they are desperate not to miss the floor when it comes. Equity backed investors are already active, and more are waiting for prices to correct in the forthcoming months.

“The winners in this market will be anyone with equity who can buy over the next six months. Those requiring significant finance will be unlikely to be quick enough on their feet. Vulture funds and cash-rich individuals will be the first to benefit.

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“It may be hard to stomach but opportunistic buyers are looking for distressed property sellers. They are interested in individual properties – repossessions in particular – and also development land, or even newly completed developments. In fact, anything where values are felt to have fallen as far as they are likely to.”

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One Response

  1. [...] Trends in house prices * Land Registry reports 8% fall in house prices @ LandReg. CEBR predicts further 25% fall @ Property Lettings * Good news from the US: “In news that may interest overseas property buyers, a US economist has predicted that the end of the downturn in the market is approaching.” @ Hotproperty * Not so good from Spain, though. “The Spanish property market seems to have gone from bad to worse. According to the latest news, more than 900,000 new homes are still unsold this year. This is a very large figure, too worrying to ignore and even Spain’s prime minister Zapatero warned that the nation’s banks will not escape this situation unscathed.” @ Overseas property mall * Negative equity fears affect 3 million @ Homemove * Bulgarian bubble bursts Trends in investor sentiment * A review of the last Property Investor Show @ Summit Finance * “Redrow one of the UK’s largest housebuilders has sold just 38 homes a week over the last eight weeks.” – Market “fragile” warns developer Redrow @ Telegraph * Knight Frank market report @ Overseas property investor [...]

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