Is confidence coming back into the property market?

Posted 3 October 2007 by Neil Moore

In the current economic climate people have greatly lost confidence in the property market.  More than anything they are holding back, treating this economic situation like the war effort; storing equity and saving plans until everything looks a bit brighter and people can emerge from their shelters safe in the knowledge that a bombshell is not coming their way. 

Buying a house will most probably be the biggest investment any individual person makes during their lifetime, so it is not surprising that they wish to take care.  For an investment of this scale, the response it will have to the market and vice versa can make a massive difference to that investor’s life, thus making it very wise for people to take care when thinking about buying or selling a property.

Six out of ten people said concerns about job security were the biggest barrier preventing them from buying a home, and a further 55 per cent said they did not think they would be able to get the mortgage they needed.  These are inevitable effects of the recession, but evidence is showing great signs of improvement in these areas.

Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the Building Society Association, said:“People are slightly less nervous about the outlook for the jobs market, and are less inclined to think that house prices are going to fall. For the first time since September last year a greater proportion of respondents think that house prices will rise rather than fall in the following 12 months.”

Post-recession recovery is all about regaining confidence.  Following the stock market crash of October 1929 it took the US government three years to launch a series of measures aimed at restoring confidence.  People need to take lessons from history and understand that things will never improve unless we believe that they can and will.

Mr Broadhead continues: "There have been a number of encouraging signs that the worst of the property crash has passed recently and the Property Tracker shows that people think both that property prices will now rise and that now is a good time to buy. “There appears to be a little less negativity in consumers’ opinions on the housing market, but it remains to be seen whether this is just a blip or the start of a trend.’

The importance of this rise in positivity becoming a trend rather than a blip is crucial.  Investing in property continues to be one of the most positive investments an individual can make, and by taking that leap of faith and emerging from the shadows of the shelters of recession, people are beginning to fight back and regain a confidence in the property market which can help it begin its steady ‘post-war’ recovery.

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