Selling your Large Home and Buying a Smaller One

Sale and Purchase of Property

If you are buying a smaller home while selling a larger one, ideally you want the market to be rising. That way you can easily sell your home, and if you gain 10% on a £300,000 home but have to pay 10% more for a £150,000 home, you end up pocketing £30,000 versus spending an extra £15,000, so you are quids in.

Unfortunately, the current market isn't working in your favour, depending on the type of property you have and area you are living in. For our full property market report, visit the Designs on Property website.

For those looking to trade down though, it's important not to worry too much about the market. Mainly, people trade down from properties they own outright, releasing equity so you can enjoy life. Or you may be in the unfortunate situation of getting divorced, so are forced to sell and find something smaller.

READ MORE to find out what to do if you are:-
Trading down - cash purchase  or Trading down due to divorce/separation

Is now a good time to buy or sell a home?

Is now a good time to buy or sell a home?

If you are buying and selling a home, the ideal market is really one which is falling for a short period of time. This means you may sell the property you own for less, but you should save more on the one you purchase, so you benefit financially.

Typically though, for anyone buying or selling, it doesn't really matter too much what's happening market wise. When prices are going up, it's easier to sell your property and although you may have to pay out more for the larger property you are buying, you still get to move and over the long term, will benefit as prices rise. If prices are falling you also do well as you sell your property for 10% less than it was previously worth, for example a £150,000 home sells now for £135,000.


FOLLOW THIS LINK to decide whether now is a good time to buy and sell!

For Sale and Sold Boards

How to find out what's happening in your local property market

When you want to have a good idea of what's happening in your local market, as long as there are no restrictions in your area, working out how many properties are for sale and sold, and comparing this to historic data can really help.

Counting boards is something which agents often use to measure their own local market share. However it's an incredibly useful way of working out whether it's going to be easy or difficult to buy or sell a property in your market. 


READ MORE for Three steps to work out if it will be easy or difficult to buy or sell a property

First Time Buyers Market Report and Analysis

First Time Buyers' Market Report and Analysis

The ideal market for a first time buyer is one which is actually gently rising. This means you purchase a property and then watch the value of your home increase year on year. For the full market update, visit the Designs on Property website.

The summary of the current and future market is one where prices are doing the opposite, ie likely to fall over the coming months. There are some areas though, which are hotter spots than the norm especially in inner London, so it is vital to work out what's happening to property prices in your local area. Visit How to check out the local property market and What to ask the agents to better understand the local market for more help.


FOLLOW THIS LINK for the full First Time Buyers Report

Future Property Market Analysis

Is the Property Market driving the recession or will the recession drive prices down further?

The property market to date ‘on average' has pretty much been in the doldrums. Visit our market reports for Past and Current Property Prices. To date, we've seen a 20% fall in property prices and a 50% fall in volume since the credit crunch. The market itself has pulled back on average price wise to around 10% below the heights of 2007. Sales volumes though remain very low compared to pre credit crunch norms and research and data so far shows no signs of the market recovering, even in areas where property prices are performing well.

Much of what happens to the market for the rest of 2012 will depend on how confident people are to buy a property. This confidence will depend on figures from the media which will include unemployment levels, inflation, what is likely to happen to wages and especially what happens on the mortgage front as well as how they report the property market.


READ MORE for Future Property Market Predictions

Current Property Market Analysis

Is now the time to sell your home?

We know from our ‘past property market' analysis that prices over the last few years have hardly fluctuated at all. However, the current market shows prices are softening slightly month on month at the moment, suggesting 2012 is likely to be a quieter year than 2011.

So far we have seen a boost to the year's activities as first time buyers have rushed to purchase properties to avoid paying Stamp Duty between £125,000 and £250,000. We also saw a ‘shock' to London's sales for the first time, as the surprise 7% Stamp Duty for properties over £2 million and for those buying through overseas companies, rush property purchases through to avoid paying tens of thousands of extra tax on property.


READ MORE for the full Current Property Market Analysis

Economy Follows Property Prices into a Double Dip

Economy Follows Property Prices into a Double Dip


Month by month we hear from lots of different property price reports, some saying prices are rising, some falling. For anyone who's a first time buyer, looking to trade down or invest in property, conflicting headlines are confusing and generate additional stress at a time when there is already plenty to worry about.

This property price report is unique in that it reviews all the different property price reports from the prospective of someone carrying out a property project, giving advice to help work out, from a market perspective, whether now is a good time to buy, sell, build, invest or even carry out a renovation project. 

READ HERE For my full Past Property Price market analysis

Should First Time Buyers Take the Plunge in 2012?

First Time Buyers Home 2012

Many first time buyers feel they will never be able to get into the property market, particularly those in London and other expensive areas, where affordability is a very real issue. So should first time buyers be thinking very seriously of making 2012 the year to take the plunge and buy?

READ ON to find out.

What Impact will another Recession have on the Property Market?

Future Market

Predicting the property market is about as difficult as predicting the weather - and expert forecasts are rarely accurate. We know that over the next five years, in most areas, property prices are likely to recover, but within the next year or two, without a clear picture of how hard a recession could hit and to what level unemployment will rise, let alone unknown impacts of the Eurozone crisis on our banks and property market, it is tough to work out what will happen within the next six to twelve months. However below we go through key indicators which can influence prices.

READ ON for the full Future Property Market analysis

Current Market: 2012 a Good Year to Buy?

House Prices 2012

This year the usual doom and gloom merchants Capital Economics and Jonathan Davis are still saying property prices will fall by 5% (CE) or up to -12% (JD). These two companies are typically very ‘downbeat' about the market and have been since 2000! Other predictions suggest property prices will rise by up to 3%.

So, depending on whether we hit an economic recession in 2012 and how deep it is will determine whether prices show a little bit of growth or a small decline. If things get really rough with high unemployment levels, a sharp rise in repossessions and say a rise in interest rates, then it may be that the real doom and gloom forecasts of 5% or more falls could exist by the year end.

READ MORE to find out whether 2012 is a Good Year to Buy?

Past Market Performance: Property Prices Start to Freeze

House Prices for 2011

Recent property price reports which measure what's happened to property prices in the past suggest that 2011 was a year where prices rose until the summer, then dropped back again, in the main to slightly lower than 2010 prices.

Volumes year on year are down, only by less than 1%, but this, along with other data suggests market volumes are weakening. This is significant for those looking to sell this year as lower volumes typically mean prices are likely to fall in the coming months. Back during the market heights, the average monthly volume in England and Wales was approximately 89,000 sales per month. At its lowest in 2009, the average monthly volume was 52,000 - a fall of 40%. Current volumes are running higher, but not by much: 60,000. This still represents 30% fewer homes being sold versus 2007.

READ ON for a Full Summary of House Prices 2011

Latest Rental Market Statistics

Property Rental Market Update

2011 has proved a good year for the rental market. Firstly, lenders have started to realise buy to let investors are typically a ‘safe bet' when it comes to lending money and secondly, tenant demand is on the increase, meaning lower voids and rents have started to recover and in some cases overtake the heights achieved in September 2008. Much of the media's headlines about rent rises have however given an inaccurate picture as they compare year on year rents which ignore the fact that rents fell between 5% and 20% throughout 2009 due to excess rental stock from accidental landlords.

Current Rental Market Performance

Rental Market Outlook for 2012

Implications of the FSA Mortgage Changes for the Housing Market

The UK Housing Market

The changes to the market are unlikely to have much impact in the short term as currently mortgage lending criteria is pretty much sticking to similar rules as the FSA intend to impose.

The main impact will really take place when the economy and the market is likely to start recovering. Normally during a recovery, lending criteria will be relaxed a little as house prices start to rise rather than fall and lenders feel more secure in approving mortgage loans.

FIND OUT HERE what the implications are for you!

Mortgage Changes

To Get a Mortgage

The Financial Services Authority has just announced the latest round of suggestions to reform the mortgage market to try and make sure that the boom and bust in the housing market of 2000-2007 doesn't hit the UK economy again.

The first round didn't go well and suggested that there were going to be no self certification mortgages (where proof of income is not required). It also suggested an end to interest only mortgages. Not allowing lenders this flexibility would have very much put major restrictions on lenders to lend, meaning less buyers would have the finance to buy now and into the future.

READ HERE for the FSA's latest suggestions

Revised London Housing Strategy

Mayor Publishes Revised Housing Strategy for London

According to a recent press release by the Greater London Authority, the Mayor of London has recently published a draft revised London Housing Strategy for consultation with the public. The 12 week consultation period runs out on 6th March 2012.

Since the first strategy was published in the early part of 2010 a number of reviews have taken place, with a number of areas having been identified where change is needed. In August 2011, the Mayor's initial proposals for this new strategy were published for consultation with the London Assembly and GLA Group.

READ ON for full details of the Revised Strategy