Warwick District well-equipped to deal with housing crash

Dec 12 2008

By Jeanette Scott

WARWICK District is better-placed to cope with the housing crash than most other areas of the country. That is the optimistic view of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) as they say demand for property is still high in the region. The claim comes despite house prices plummeting to their lowest levels in England and Wales for over two-and-a-half years in the months leading up to October. Harvey Williams, the RICSs housing market spokesman for Warwickshire, said: What we can say is that in Warwick District there is definitely no shortage of potential buyers and the numbers visiting estate agencies are encouraging. Where the deals are getting stuck is in the logjam of mortgage shortages but the demand is definitely there. Nationally we are coping better than the majority of regions. The drop had seen prices fall by 7.3 per cent this year. Some building societies have since announced an easing of the price decline in recent months, but a recovery was still seen as some way off. Mr Williams said the Bank of Englands decision to cut the base rate from 4.5 to 3 per cent was almost unheard of as an attempt to enable mortgage lenders to release funds. What is blocking deals being completed is the shortage of mortgage funds and appropriate products; and the amount you need for a deposit, he said. At this time of year peoples minds are not on buying property but we at the RICS are hopeful that early in the new year, if mortgage funding is made available, there will be an improvement in the number of deals being done. The number of people visiting estate agencies in the region is proof that the demand is there. What we would say is that property is still a very profitable investment, and that includes flats, shops and housing.