06/09/2009: "house sales - a warning"

yet another "mortgage lending improvment" article and report comes out today, this time from RICS (royal institute for chartered surveyors) telling us all that interest in the property market is again "on the rise"

Read the full article here (BBC news)

personally, id take all these reports with a huge pinch of salt, as i would with any report from any industry, where there is a vested interest

in the UK us "normal people" are bombarded with a steady stream of favourable reports, its easy to forget that these are coming from a body who would profit and prosper from increasing sales figures and confidence.
the housing market is in freefall, and will be for some time i think, as these reports come from the same industry that missed the crash.

fixed rate mortgage deals are still very expensive
example:
a 3 year fixed rate deal we got (with the national interest rates at 2.5%) put the fixed interest at 5.2%
the same 3 year fixed rate deal now (for a mortgage that is 3 years of payments lower) is 5.4% over 3 years with a Ł1000 set up fee

uk interest rates are currently 0.5%

it is in their interests to talk up the housing market, but remember: most banks have to find huge amounts of funds they lost in the banking crash, some owe the taxpayer billions of pounds, how can they recoup all that money?
by talking up the market - generating interest in a weak market - by passing on higher interest rates to their customers.

i would place so called "experts" second only to car dealers and estate agents.... be careful out there people!