Money Making Expert Jasmine Birtles...

The two-speed UK property market Recently I’ve heard of two ridiculously-priced properties in the UK.One in Mayfair that has sold for…wait for it…£81m…and the other in Stockton which has sold for £14,500. A friend has mentioned that he’s heard of another property that has gone under the hammer for £750! This just shows how schizophrenic the property market is right now and probably will continue to be for a while. In London, particularly in the posh postcodes, property prices are going up by up to 20% a year. Outside of London, particularly in very downtrodden areas, prices are dropping or at least not moving at all. It’s supply and demand again – this time supply of money and demand for properties in certain areas. In London money is rushing in from France, Greece, Libya, Italy, Russia and elsewhere because the capital’s property is seen as as safe haven (so are art and certain businesses interestingly). Outside of London, though, there’s little foreign interest so it’s up to Brits to try to get the mortgages to buy properties. Sadly, mortgage money is still too tight to mention. So how’s it going to go this year? I think more of the same, frankly. It depends on the Euro and the stability of the Middle East but I think we have at least another year of instability in both which means that 1) more foreign money will be investing in London property, 2) banks will continue to be scared of lending to all but the most stable-looking borrowers. www.moneymagpie.co.uk