It’s not that bad

Published on 13/07/2012 00:00

Your headline, “Housing market won’t bounce back until 2024” (12 July), reveals a singularly unhelpful interpretation of what the housing market is.

House prices have fallen but the actual fall has been contaminated by the high number of repossession sales where prices are significantly and invariably less than Home Report valuations. A more realistic indicator of house price change would be to separate forced sales data from owner sales.

The current housing market is more than buoyant, with closing dates every working day. Deals are being done, mortgages are being obtained; savers, fed up with the derisory interest from banks, are using their savings to buy houses as rental investments. And first-time buyers in their 20s are reappearing, excited by the prospect of buying 
affordable homes large enough to have their families.

Where property values are concerned, what home movers may lose on their sale price is more than compensated for by the lower price they pay for their next homes.

The financial collapse of 2008 has caused a positive transformation in the real housing market. Gone are the ridiculous mortgage products which over-inflated property prices; in their stead are sensible percentage loan-to-value mortgages.

Houses are becoming more affordable and the focus is very much on the house being a home and not a cash cow to fund unrelated and ephemeral pursuits. There is great news in the housing market. It is a pity that your ill-conceived need for a shocking headline could do the real market a great disservice.

Graeme McCormick

Conveyancing Direct

Morrison Street

Glasgow