The UK House Market And How To Survive It

According to the Nationwide Building Society, the UK housing market has made a "strong start" in 2006, with the biggest rise in house prices for 18 months, rising by 1.4% in January. This was seen by the Nationwide as part of a "strengthening trend" since October, with confidence returning to the housing market, but the high price rises of 2004 were not expected to return. Jeremy Leaf of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said, 'The housing market is definitely seeing signs of a recovery,' and he predicted that, 'modest price rises are expected to continue into the year.' Fionnuala Earley, an economist for the Nationwide, stated that she believed that factors such as pension fears, declining consumer appetite for debt and below-average economic growth would help to restrain further house price rises in 2006. Another sign that people are regaining confidence in the market can be seen alongside a warning from the BBC that many first-time buyers are willing to overpay in order to get onto the first rung of the property ladder. The Yorkshire Bank has announced that more than one in five first-time buyers are currently willing to offer above the asking price, compared with a year ago when less than one in ten were willing to pay over the asking price. Gary Lumby, a Yorkshire Bank spokesman, said, "Buyers are starting 2006 in a more positive mood than last year, when there seemed to be a lot more uncertainty regarding where the housing market was going." Whilst more first-time-buyers purchasing property is extremely beneficial as it allows for greater movement within the market place, the increase in the number of buyers willing to overpay could be a cause for concern. With the UK personal debt level currently running at