Henry Pryor Says: Fewer home loans and lower offers show market is slowing

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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 who represent the institutions who lend around 98% of all residential mortgage lending in the UK.

We will have to wait until mid November to learn how many individual mortgages were actually advanced in that period but we can expect it to be down on the 99,000 in August. There are around 11.8 million mortgages in total in the UK.

Higher property prices of course means higher total values of mortgages and so an increase in the total amount lent would not be a surprise. One would expect a fall of around 5% between August and September normally so a fall of over twice this amount adds to concerns that the property market is breaking sharply.

Estate agents report that the number of houses they are taking on is ldown and it's clear that five interest rate rises has applied the break to the frothy market we saw as we started the year.

New figures out this week from the National Association of Estate Agents confirms the difference between the guide price and the sales price agreed.

Lower agreed offers have risen to nearly 4% which should make buyers a little tougher with their negotiations but it is still unclear how many asking prices are being slashed as the people who need to sell and find that an optimistic guide price has put wary buyers off their home.

Interestingly, the number of sales that are falling through after having been agreed despite the introduction of HiPS is about 11% according to NAEA so all of those are going back on the market.

The moral of the story for sellers is not to wait for their agent to tell them that they need to reduce the price. Get a second opinion and then sit down with your agent and ask them for some advice.

Remember, buyers want to know that you are serious about selling. An over ambitious asking price suggest that you are unrealistic and they therefore go elsewhere. As with a rising market, if you are going to buy another house, that one is likely to be adjusting it's aspirations also.

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