Gascoigne Halman: 'Positive signs in housing market thanks to cheaper mortgages and lower house prices.' (From Messenger Newspapers)

Gascoigne Halman: 'Positive signs in housing market thanks to cheaper mortgages and lower house prices.'

12:37pm Tuesday 10th February 2009

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Positive signs are starting to emerge in the housing market, according to a South Manchester Estate Agent.

John Halman, managing director of Gascoigne Halman, believes lower house prices and cheaper mortgage costs have made property more affordable for many people – resulting in an increase in buyer interest.

He said: “We have already picked up a week on week increase in our website enquiry level during December and this has continued into the New Year.

“Discussions with other estate agents, both in the area and nationally, have revealed that they too have detected uplift in activity and enquiry and, whilst we are certainly not out of the woods, we expect an increase in the number of housing transactions as we move into the spring months.”

With unemployment continuing to rise, Baroness Vadera received criticism recently when she suggested that there were green shoots in the economy, but John argues that she was not incorrect to do so.

He said: “There is little doubt that many of those people who have taken temporary rented accommodation are frustrated by living their lives on hold and are now looking in the market with a view to making a permanent acquisition. This is reinforced by the feeling that lending rate decreases are resulting in us arriving at a level where mortgage payments are becoming cheaper than renting. “We can also detect a build up of people who can no longer put off their move for family reasons and will contribute to the increase in the underlying level of activity and the number of transactions.

“With the banks still in turmoil, and unemployment rising, the economy still has underlying issues to be resolved however this residential area certainly seems to be experiencing an uplift in activity and viewings which will almost certainly result in an uplift in the number of housing transactions.”

John Halman is Managing Director of Gascoigne Halman, an estate agent with seventeen offices in South Manchester and is the North West Regional Residential Spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

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