Advertisement starts

Advertisement ends

Henry Pryor Says

Henry Pryor is a property expert who watches the housing market day in and day out, and doesn't hold back with his views and insights... See what's on his mind

- Check out Henry's hipexchange
- Share your views and tips on property and the market

15/07/2008: Sellers beware!

Last week I sat in the offices of a central London agent waiting to see the boss. As I waited, the familiar bustle of a busy agency surrounded me and it was encouraging to hear the phones ringing and viewings being arranged...

04/07/2008: No new homes.

Last week the Government won the latest round for their controversial plans for 5 new Eco Towns to be built in the green fields of England but it's far from certain, that even if full planning permission is eventually granted they will ever be built. The reason? house builders and developers look to be on the road to bankruptcy.

10/06/2008: Where is this market going?

According to some surveys, house prices have started to fall with the over-quoted Halifax index down 2.4% last month alone. House sales in some areas have dropped by as much as 70% and the wheels have even started to come off the buy-to-let market. But where will we go from here?

2/06/2008: B&B problems show buy-to-let situation worsening

Buy-to-let property is the ticking timebomb under house prices. With the foundations of the market now starting to show financial subsidance, concern about this un-regulated sub-market has started to attract greater attention

22/05/2008: Huge gap opens between asking and actuall selling price

The latest survey of asking prices from property web site Rightmove.co.uk suggests that in large areas of the country sellers are building in room to negotiate into their guide prices....

12/05/2008: Has the world gone mad?

What is it with some people? I've just received news of what must be this year's most optimistic vendor...

6/05/2008: Estate agency offices closing at 150 a week?!

'Estate Agencies shut 150 branches a week' screams the headline in the newspaper this morning. '4000 job losses since the start of the year and the number of mortgages approved for home buyers has fallen by 44% in 12 months', it goes on to say...

15/04/2008: House prices falling by £1,000 a week

Latest figures released by Communities and Local Government confirm that house prices are falling fast, with the average price in February down to £217,000 from £221,000 in January....

9/04/2008: How far could the market fall?

April 1st brought us the monthly Land Registry figures which report the prices recorded by the agency when sales complete, usually a couple of months after the sale was agreed...

3/4/2008: How to save money selling your home

With newspapers screaming about the state of the market, mortgage lenders pulling out of the mortgage business by clearing their products off the shelves and the Diana Inquiry still dragging on it is sometimes hard to be optimistic that spring will ever arrive...

27/3/2008: One rule for the rich

House prices are booming - for properties worth £3m or more! The lower end of the market might be suffering as prices fall for the sixth month in a row, but money's still no object for the wealthy when it comes to property...

20/03/2003: If you want to sell, get real!

It's Easter and traditionally, a lot of homes go on the market over the bank holiday. It may sound harsh but if you want to sell your home now you really have got to appreciate the reality of the current market...

12/03/2208: The Budget - my view

When the Chancellor sat down having delivered his first budget we are all left worse off than when he stood up...

11/03/2008: Sale on... at your estate agents!

Estate agents around the country are slashing prices and our expert Henry Pryor looks at what this means for the property market...

04/03/2008: The market is in great shape! (or where will the housing market go from here? - Part 1)

Last weekend I found myself once again the butt of conversation and jokes about my reported pessimisson for the housing market...

27/02/2008: When DIY is worth it

There was a time when spring started later and daffodils and crocuses only stuck their heads out in April when the snow had retreated...

19/02/2008: Number of sold homes drops by 23%

19/02/2008: New figures released by Land Registry confirm that the property market took a significant dive last year with nearly 23% fewer houses sold in England and Wales...

12/02/2008: Lies, damn lies and statistics

It's an old saying, but every so often I'm reminded how incisive were Mark Twain, and Disraeli before him, and it's usually when a tidal wave of numbers swamps my inbox as it has recently...

6/02/2008: Gordon Brown takes a liberty

In less than a week over 5,500 people have signed the latest petition, added perhaps more in hope than in expectancy, to the Downing Street web site...

5/02/2008: Who's paying your estate agent?

Many buyers forget that the ever-helpful estate agent showing them round properties is paid by the seller...

22/01/2008: Rightmove confirms house prices are falling

Rightmove are one of the bigger property portals and once a month they put out a press release about the < a href="/money/features-new/mortgages-blog/henry-pryor-22-1-2008.html">state of the market...

17/01/2008: HIP HIP hooray!

The Government have decided to include 3 bedroom properties in the Home Information Pack farce they have created. From 10th September, anyone who starts to market a property with THREE or more bedrooms will need to order a Pack...

8/01/2008: Now the City hates estate agents too

I'm not sure why one should be surprised but it is becoming clear that even the City takes a dim view of those involved in selling houses these days...

7/01/2008: Happy new year

Good news greets me in the newspapers after the Christmas break - three month LiBOR (the rate that banks charge each other and, as we have learnt before, is much more relevant than the Bank of England's base rate) has dropped a full one and a quarter percent...

2/01/2008: Happy Christmas but an unhappy New Year

Well, that's another twelve months over. 2007 was memorable for many reasons, but for property it was when the ten year bull market came to an end...

20/12/2007: Happy Christmas but an unhappy New Year.

If you bought a house in 1997, in many cases it is now worth nearly four time that today. I think we will need to be patient before anyone who bought this year decides to sell. When they do, I'm afraid that many will face a loss.

11/12/2007: Prices to fall by up to 40%

So, 2007 turned out to be the peak of the market after all. I said in January that we might look back at the fourth quarter of 2006 as the peak, something that was pretty widely reported at the time...

5/12/2007: Deja vu?

If you happen to be bored enough, there are numerous articles quoted on the Net referring to newspaper comments that may or may not have been made before, during and after the last serious property recession which started in 1989...

28/11/2007: Have HIPs hit house prices?

The latest figures from The Land Registry published this morning explodes the myth that the introduction of the controversial Home Information Pack was responsible for the housing market slow down...

28/11/2007: Home info packs for all?

The Government has announced the roll out of Home Information Packs to all houses from 14th December...

22/11/2007: Is it time to change your agent?

Imagine being trapped in a lift with an estate agent! As if that isn't bad enough, the property bore is banging on about something that you don't want to hear and doesn't seem to apply to you...

17/11/2007: How many HIPs inspectors does it take to change a lightbulb?

In May, Secretary of state Ruth Kelly told the House of Commons that 3000 Domestic Energy Assessors would be needed for the Government to feel sufficiently confident to roll out Home Information Packs across England and Wales...

7/11/2007: House prices to fall in 2008, and possibly beyond

Predictions for the new year are usually not made until December but with many people asking "What's going to happen to the housing market?", it's worth taking a peek at the tea leaves now, and perhaps looking ahead to the end of the decade...

31/10/2007: Trick or treat?

If you answer the door tonight to the sound of "Trick or treat", then beware! The haggard look and frenzied eyes aren't necessarily part of a Halloween costume - this person hasn't slept in weeks and is in trouble. He or she is your local estate agent...

20/10/2007: Consumers lose out in latest Tesco scrap

It seems that consumers are to be prevented from being able to choose a cheaper estate agent following news that Tescos' plans to provide a full estate agency offering have been blocked by the property website Rightmove...

19/10/2007: Few loans and lower offers show market is slowing

So, gross mortgage lending (the value of loans secured on homes) advanced by lenders during September fell by 12% compared with August according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders

15/10/2007: No houses for sale!

Don't look now but there aren't any houses for sale. Not literally, of course, but the number of new properties coming onto the market since the summer is down by nearly a half...

10/10/07: Swings and roundabouts for property in the Pre-Budget Report

Yesterday's Pre-Budget report from the Black Adder styled 'Chancellor Darling' contained two significant announcements that affects property and property speculators...

9/10/2007: What's really happening to house prices?

According to the Land Registry who record the sale of each and every property in England and Wales, in the first six months of the year there were 902 homes sold in Battersea in leafy south west London...

3/10/2007:"Tesco withdraws private sellers site"?

Tesco have announced today that they are to withdraw their innovative 'For Sale By Owner' offering today and their website has been changed to reflect this. The news comes less than six months after the launch of the controversial private sellers offering and was the first significant brand to promote a 'FSBO' model.

1/10/2007:"End of the hunt for Foxtons"?

The headline that so many Londoners it is said have been waiting to see has at last appeared. The agent that everyone loves to hate has battled with an unenviable image since it was set up 25 years ago

25/09/2007: Mortgages will cost more as houses cost less

The credit crunch is already pushing up costs for new borrowers and for anyone coming off a fixed rate product. By Christmas, it's possible that we will see the equivalent of a full percentage point increase in mortgage costs "when compared with 1st August".

15/09/2007: House prices - at last the establishment thinks that they're falling.

First it was the RICS who reported that house prices were sliding. Now Rightmove are talking about the market dipping 2.6% in September. Until recently, it was impossible to find an estate agent or a mortgage company who wouldn't tell you "that the glass was half full".

14/09/2007: On the Rocks!

In the game of 'Old Maid' that the banks have been playing with themselves over who exactly has got the unwanted Queen of Spades it looks like the Northern Rock is the first to fold. They all know that at least one of them has some of the exposure to US sub-prime mortgage problem but no one wants to own up.

11/09/2007: Tight supply is all that's keeping house prices up.

We've all heard about high property prices in London. People are often concerned that higher borrowing costs might be a problem and the current LIBOR rate (the interest rate that banks charge each other when they lend money between themselves) of 6.88% means that in fact rates for new borrowers are highly likely to rise in the weeks to come despite Base rates being held at 5.75% in September.

7/09/2007: 60% of houses now require a HIP

One month into the program and from Monday all houses with three bedrooms or more require a Home Information Pack. About 60% of all homes coming onto the market for the first time will now be included with the remained to be included later in the year.