Guaranteed Rent Scheme | Property owners reduced to the hard sell, says report
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Homebuyers will walk on by if a photo of a living room appears drab, or the sales message is poorly written, says one property website. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP House sellers had a tough time last month, according to the property website Rightmove, which found someone selling a home in June had only 2.7 seconds to convince a buyer to view their property. Adverts in local newspapers or on property websites are often the first place buyers go to search for a new home, but a drab living room picture or poorly written sales message can prove fatal to a deal when the small number of buyers means time is short, said the report. New sellers outnumber successful buyers by nearly 2:1, said Rightmove, with miserable weather plus Olympic distractions adding to the challenge of selling homes this summer. Asking prices fell 1.7%, down £4,138, which is the largest drop in July for four years. It is possible more buyers will emerge over the next six months if a more upbeat view of the economy by the Ernst & Young Item Club proves accurate. The thinktank's latest economic forecast said falling inflation and an improving outlook for world trade will bring an Indian summer of growth, though it said the marginal boost to output will still leave 2012 activity flat. However, offsetting the optimistic tone of its report, it warned that unemployment would continue to rise and consumers would remain constrained by low wage rises and the desire to pay down debts. Figures for unemployment and inflation are due this week. Peter Spencer, the thinktank's chief economic adviser, said: "Spiralling inflation has cut real wages by 7.5% over the last four years, but the squeeze is almost over. Inflation is now coming back to heel, helped by the chancellor's decision to postpone the increase in fuel duty, falling energy and commodity prices, plus tax changes dropping out of the calculation. "The boost to household finances and the subsequent pick-up in spending should be enough to push the UK back into positive territory this year, but don't expect a consumer-led recovery further out. Longer term, consumers are going to be more focused on reducing their debt burden rather than splashing the cash." According to the report, real disposable incomes are forecast to increase by 0.4% in 2012, before increasing by 1.5% in 2013. Consumer spending is expected to be flat for the year as a whole after falls in the first half are reversed in the second half. Next year consumer spending could grow by 1.5%. The housing market has struggled to generate any momentum since the financial crash in 2007 and the number of transactions remains at a historic low. Official figures for June showed the number of new homes coming on to the market over the next year or two would suffer after a dramatic decline in new house building on the previous month. The number of new housing starts fell by more than 20%. View the original article here
http://bit.ly/NYs1BY
Homebuyers will walk on by if a photo of a living room appears drab, or the sales message is poorly written, says one property website. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP House sellers had a tough time last month, according to the property website Rightmove, which found someone selling a home in June had only 2.7 seconds to convince a buyer to view their property. Adverts in local newspapers or on property websites are often the first place buyers go to search for a new home, but a drab living room picture or poorly written sales message can prove fatal to a deal when the small number of buyers means time is short, said the report. New sellers outnumber successful buyers by nearly 2:1, said Rightmove, with miserable weather plus Olympic distractions adding to the challenge of selling homes this summer. Asking prices fell 1.7%, down £4,138, which is the largest drop in July for four years. It is possible more buyers will emerge over the next six months if a more upbeat view of the economy by the Ernst & Young Item Club proves accurate. The thinktank's latest economic forecast said falling inflation and an improving outlook for world trade will bring an Indian summer of growth, though it said the marginal boost to output will still leave 2012 activity flat. However, offsetting the optimistic tone of its report, it warned that unemployment would continue to rise and consumers would remain constrained by low wage rises and the desire to pay down debts. Figures for unemployment and inflation are due this week. Peter Spencer, the thinktank's chief economic adviser, said: "Spiralling inflation has cut real wages by 7.5% over the last four years, but the squeeze is almost over. Inflation is now coming back to heel, helped by the chancellor's decision to postpone the increase in fuel duty, falling energy and commodity prices, plus tax changes dropping out of the calculation. "The boost to household finances and the subsequent pick-up in spending should be enough to push the UK back into positive territory this year, but don't expect a consumer-led recovery further out. Longer term, consumers are going to be more focused on reducing their debt burden rather than splashing the cash." According to the report, real disposable incomes are forecast to increase by 0.4% in 2012, before increasing by 1.5% in 2013. Consumer spending is expected to be flat for the year as a whole after falls in the first half are reversed in the second half. Next year consumer spending could grow by 1.5%. The housing market has struggled to generate any momentum since the financial crash in 2007 and the number of transactions remains at a historic low. Official figures for June showed the number of new homes coming on to the market over the next year or two would suffer after a dramatic decline in new house building on the previous month. The number of new housing starts fell by more than 20%. View the original article here
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