The outlook for property investors seeking to secure cheap property insurance on new additions to their portfolios is still rosy as the latest survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggests that house prices are still dropping throughout the country, with the exception of London.
Little interest in the sector
The survey covered the months of March to May and to all intents and purposes the prospects for the housing market came out decidedly gloomy. Although the majority of agents questioned reported little change, of those that did, most reported drop in house prices. Other disturbing facts emerging from the survey included many estate agents reporting little interest in the market from prospective buyers, a drop in the number of agreed sales and a lengthening of the time the average property was taking to sell.
No surprise in the findings
Of course the report can’t have came as a shock to many and at least the agents that did report a drop in house prices did qualify that by saying the drop was small. The report in fact supports the findings of one by produced by the Halifax Bank a couple of weeks ago that suggested the market would slowly stagnate for the rest of 2011. It seems as though the worrying inflation figures brought about by the escalating cost in food and fuel is scaring off many prospective buyers, and the lending requirements demanded by home loan providers is preventing the braver ones from seeing their intentions through.
Loan providers looking to rental market
Not at all bad news for the property investor! The bargains are still out there, unless of course you want to take your chance in the Capital, and loans to those looking for rented property insurance are becoming easier to get by the day. Loan companies appear to be targeting the commercial sector rather than the domestic sector now and the deals are getting better. A fact housing spokesman for RICS Ian Perry observed when summing up the latest report, noting that although the demand for purchasing property was depressed the rental market was booming.