Property Landlord advice: House prices stabilise

By Steve Roulstone

It never ceases to amaze me how the press and in particular the BBC never fail to jump on any ‘announcement’ relating to property and place a negative spin on what is being reported. Today I see a Headline which states ‘UK House prices fell in November’ on the BBC web pages as once again, it is the BBC who decide to tell the nation that housing is in decline, still! (this is not the frist time in fact this could be said to be a trend) But lets just look a little bit closer at what is actually happening?

Massive decline

Of exactly 0.1%! That is what has actually been reported by the Halifax now is that significant enough to report a decline? Firstly, house prices are always more liable to fall at this time of the year, because the winter season is always slow for house sales, as anybody in the industry is aware. But is such a small reduction worthy of such headlines? Does it not rather suggest that such a fall at this time of year, is more representative of stability in the current level of house prices? Not it seems, if you are the BBC!

Worldwide media take note!

You see, if you look at other reports on the same subject, then a more balanced approach is taken. In The Wall Street Journal report ‘UK House prices fall as demand slips’ on the same Halifax announcment (Still a negative headline but then good news never sells!) the first lines confirm that this is because of lack of demand, giving credibility to the headline they use, because they report, less owners are looking to place property on the market. This would reflect the increase in owners looking to the rental market as they seek to maximise the return from their assets, as reported by ARLA this week. They do state it is because houses cannot be sold, I would surmise that many have not even tried!

Facts behind the fiction

Only at the end of the report by the BBC do we get to some positive and supportive quotes about what is actually happening, I would suggest the damage is done by then, because most people scan the first few lines. Do this in the WSJ report and a truer picture emerges. The facts are that the Housing market is mainly flat, would expect to slow down and probably fall in the winter and under these circumstances I think a fall of 0.1% is a good performance.

Rental market

My market continues to do well, so why should this concern me? Because I believe that it is overall confidence in the housing market that matters the most and we would all benefit from a confident market. Reports that dwell on the negative and headlines that do the same may be better news, but they also do further harm and delay confidence. So please BBC let’s see the details delivered in a more factual manner, I think we all expect better!