A property chain reaction

Anyone remember the speculation that was around only a couple of months ago with regards to the property price increases? “Yes they are increasing, but there are no new homes coming on to the market which means it cannot be sustainable”.

Well the average estate agent had 64 properties on their books during the traditionally slow month of August, up from 59 in July and the first rise since April, said the National Association of Estate Agents.

Well of course they did. Those people that were looking during the first quarter of this year were also very likely to have homes of their own, ready to go up for sale once they had tested the buyer’s market.

Now I know what you’re going to say… “Yes but these are second, even third-time buyers. We need first-time buyers back in the market before we can see a prolonged recovery.” Ok  how about this “The number of first-time buyers who were actively looking in the market also rose during August, with this group accounting for 36% of all agreed sales, up from 22% in July.” With the availability of credit easing with more and more mortgage products coming onto the market, there are definitely a lot more opportunities for first-time buyers to jump on that first rung of the ladder.

Then of course we have the property Investors who have been coming back to the market recently, giving further uplift in demand. Obviously investors have been seeing hard times but investing in this climate can be highly lucrative you just need to research your investment opportunities properly (or let us do itJ). One market which has actually benefited from the recession is the Student buy to let market, with uni applications rising dramatically throughout the recession. For more information on the student property market please click here.

However if you are not looking for investment opportunities in the UK then you need to be looking towards emerging markets such as the Cape Verde islands or Brazil. Or if you’re not looking for property in particular then you should be looking towards carbon offsets (set to be one of the biggest commodity markets in the world) or If you would like to be more defensive take a look at our farm and forestry funds or vineyard opportunity with guaranteed returns.

Things are definitely starting to look up!