Summary:
A survey, conducted by property website Rightmove, reveals that fifty percent of the British public think the property is overvalued. This percentage rises to about 66% when the it comes to first-time buyers and to around 60% when the respondent lives in London. Around 75% of the people in the UK do not believe, however, prices will drop this year; it will either remain unchanged or increase. According to these people this is due to the improving market (around 50%) or less strict policy on mortgages (around 25%). The quarter of the people who believe prices will fall predict a worse economic situation (nearly 60%) and do not expect an increase in mortgage availability (23%).
Opinion:
What surprises me in the article is the fact that an earlier survey revealed that the amount of unsold property had risen to the highest number in four years. Meanwhile, the price of a new property on the market rose again with an average of 1.7%. I understand that sellers want the best price they can get for their property but to me it feels more like one of the cardinal sins: greed. It is impossible that the prices keep rising, I believe and when will we reach the point that the whole housing market will collapse? It is just a matter of time….
I am not surprised about the high number of people who think that property is overvalued, because I often feel the same. I occasionally see a home I might be interested in, but then I notice the price and not in a million years I am willing to pay that amount of money. Luckily I live in a nice house, with an overgrown garden, and lots of space for parking cars. To top that, we live at the end of a dead-end street. However, if prices were a bit lower, we would think about moving… I probably have to wait till the moment the housing market collapses.
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