Google property launched in the UK but would it work in the overseas market place?

So the big day has arrived. The moment that some had feared, some had fascinated about and some had meerly been curious. Google launched their property “portal” search function on the Google Map platform.

Having been fascinated by the progress they were making for some time now (it was an immediate give away when Street View launched) and having written about it back in July last year I felt I had to comment once more. If you want to try it click here as it is well worth it but to be honest it is what I would call a “Ronseal Ryanair” website in that it does exactly what it says it will with the little or no additional features.

Double dip concern mounting…..

It wasn’t long ago that I wrote a blog about a “W” shaped recovery in the housing market (click here for the article)  and I have to say I have a slight concern that it is just starting to come true – certainly in the UK. But why do I think this?

Further signs of a recovery in the Housing market……

It has been interesting watching the news recently.

• We have now had four months of continual house prices rises regardless of which indices your are watching
• Economical figures from the UK, Europe and the US are looking more positive that expected
• The FTSE 100 has rallied to a 14 month high and these gains are also seen elsewhere

The future of the UK Property Market?

I have been debating for some time now about where the housing market is going to go to in the future however the thoughts have really picked up speed since the October 2007 and the start of the so called “property recession”

My main thought is the issue of Home Ownership (HO). Can our current rate of home ownership be sustained with rising house prices – or rather this was the case when I first started thinking about it! Now I question whether the amount of borrowing will have play a determining role rather than house prices. You could argue that it is both as first time buyers are still struggling with the multiples of income that they still need to afford house prices despite the falls – especially in the South of the country which is already seeing a slight recovery.

This article is going to cover my thoughts backed up by historical evidence and offers insights in to where I believe the future lies. The main issue here is that I believe we are on the cusp of a generational shift in the housing market and it is going to be interesting to watch it. The main issue here is that an Estate Agency would need to consider these thoughts to review its business model and change to reflect the market place. It will be really interesting to see what happens.

Weekly Paper Review – July 6th

Hello everyone. As always please see to the left of the blog for the audio guide to this article

There has been some pretty active journalists out there of late as the market continues to show some signs of movement. The Nationwide has reported three months out of four showing increases in House Prices which is always encouraging.

Some of the posts that i have reviewed this week include:

FT article about prices increasing http://tinyurl.com/ogo4yp

FT article about 90% mortgages on the increase http://tinyurl.com/pftxpx

Times Article about mortgages and their impact on the housing market recovery http://tinyurl.com/lvffy3

Times review about Property prices finding their level http://tinyurl.com/oy6uxy

News of the World article about the worst areas for Negative Equity in the UK http://tinyurl.com/omfz87

Have a good week everyone.

Best wishes

James

Will it really be a “W” shaped recovery in the UK Housing Market?

There has been a lot of talk lately about a recovery in the domestic housing market due to recently published figures; these were included in my post last week concerning the Weekly Paper Review – I was discussing something called a “W” Shaped Recovery. It got a huge response on both Twitter and LinkedIn with people agreeing. I thought I would expand on my thoughts and see if this really was the case if I looked into it with a little bit more detail.

When I first heard of the term I was asking “what actually is a “W” shaped recovery” and so this is where I will start my blog post.

Weekly Paper Review – June 1st

Hello everyone and welcome to a new month!

There was quite a lot of house news this week in the papers and mainly focuesd on the UK market which showed some good figures last week. Find on the left hand side of this blog the “Box.net” application with my review on the papers. I also give some insight into my thoughts on the UK market looking at a “W” shaped recovery rather than a “V” shaped one which I think is quite evident at the moment with regard the latest housing figures.

Some of the articles I cover are in the links below if you expand out the article. I hope it is of some help to you all.

Weekend Newspaper Review – May 18th 2009

Hello everyone,

I was away in Italy last week viewing properties and so sadly I could not update the blog. I have recorded this weeks Paper Review which includes comments on:

• UK property market seeing a recovery
• Turkish Property Market still going strong – see my thoughts on this market from a blog post a couple of weeks ago http://tinyurl.com/ot25by 

I hope it is of interest to everyone. Have a great week.

James

Weekend Paper Review – 27th April

Hi Everyone,

Sorry but I was away last week and nowhere near a computer to give my thoughts on last weeks news but there were some good stories this weekend, though conflicting. Please see my audio guide to the left of your screen.

Comment includes – The UK market picking up on the back of figures from the US property market. The Turkish property market going upmarket and the Spanish Golf Resorts having a mixed time.

Some articles that i have been commenting on can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/cpnhyf – Turkey going upmarket
http://tinyurl.com/cwrvv6  – Indian market
http://tinyurl.com/ccseho  – Student buy to let market

I hope this helps everyone,

Best wishes.

James

Weekly review of the UK papers…..

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a good Easter. There are two reviews of the papers on the Audio Guide to the left of your screen ready to download and listen to. Topics discussed in the first audio guide are:

• UK housing market and reasons for optimism
• Montenegro and Brazil Housing markets

The topics in the second audio guide are about Cyprus and Spain housing markets which show quite  a positive slant.

Some of the articles covered are below:

Cyprus – http://tinyurl.com/cyf6cn

Spain – http://tinyurl.com/cfauzg

I hope it is happy listening. Best wishes everyone.

James