Do you want to buy a house now?

Filed Under Finance

Today wasn’t a good day for the UK property market.

We hear from the prediction from Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) that there will be less mortgage products available in 2008, particularly for the sub prime sector.

We also hear that the number of mortgage approvals fell by 20% in September with the CML making further dire predictions that the growth in property prices will slow to just 1% in 2008, which is a net fall, of course, if you take the effects of inflation into account.

The most concerning statistic that I saw today, though , was that repossessions are predicted to increase by 50% in 2008. When remortgages and secured home loans become more difficult to obtain by those looking for a desperate last measure to safe them from repossession, then this sad statistic looks realistic.

In the finance market, we are already seeing some applicants with high loan to values being rejected by lenders, whereas they would have been welcomed with open arms a few months ago. Others with very poor credit histories are also facing difficulties securing loans at the moment too. It is these people who are at most risk of being repossessed.

So who can feel optimistic about the property market now? Not me.