UK property trends, neither a buyers or a sellers market, best advice is to extend your house or put rooms in the roof

Property investors who have got caught up in this latest property dilemma cannot blame anyone but themselves for their problems. Sure the banks have been stupid in not seeing this crisis coming but then we have come to expect nothing less from the banks. It's the private owners who are now struggling to meet their mortgage repayments that have our sympathy.

Start of article about the UK property market.

Previous page about the UK property trends.

All the warning signs were there for anyone to see but there is no one more blind than a greedy man and when profits come as if it is a license to print money, arrogance and over confidence tend to kick commonsense out of the window.

So where does this leave estate agents? Over the last fifteen years, estate agents have opened up in every available spot like a ubiquitous rash. It would appear that every spotty little oik in a flash car, cheap shoes and out to make a quick buck became an estate agent on the promise of easy pickings. Every conceivable retail outlet became an estate agents office, pushing retailers out of the high street. The words, chicken, home and roost spring to mind right now.

Most estate agents have operated on both a sales and letting management basis doing very little for their money and not feeling the need to do much for the high commissions they charge. As property prices have risen, their incomes have risen accordingly but I wonder how many have put financial plans in place for the day when the money trail ceased?

• Cheap interest remortgages
  
  
• Low cost home improvement loans
  
  
• Competitive mortgage quotes
  
  
• Cheapest credit cards
  
  
• Builders, Plumbers, Electricians
  
  
• Home improvement quotes
  
  
• Home information packs
  
  
• Reduce gas, electricity and telephone bills
  
  
• Money saving ideas
  
  
• Low cost removals
  
  
• Architects
  
  
• Surveyors
  
  
• Conveyancing services
  
  
• Sell you property privately by building your own website and save thousands of pounds on estate agents commissions

The more established estate agents will have traded through similar times, but many estate agents have only ever known strong trading conditions and the current market is going to come as a shock.

Salaries, rents, business rates and other overheads have to be paid and the tax man will be chasing them for tax on income earned in the better trading years. Our prediction is that a lot of estate agents will be going to the wall in the next two years.

Their three main sources of income, sales, rentals and mortgage commissions have just been slashed to the quick. They may have an increased number of repossessions and properties being dumped back on the market, but they have to have the buyers to earn commission.

Furthermore, with more people unable to get mortgages, fixed interest terms coming to an end so that potential movers will remain in their current houses and many more property owners deciding to make improvements to their existing homes rather than move, estate agents are in for a very lean time. Read on to find out what we are predicting will happen next to UK market trends.

An extra bedroom in the roof or an extension can add 11-15% to the value of your property saving you a fortune on moving. By improving your home, you can save on:

• No conveyancing fees
• No removal costs
• No home information pack
• No stamp duty
• No estate agents fees
• Valuation and survey costs
• Furnishing and redecoration costs
• Far higher mortgage repayments

So what will happen next in the UK property market?