Bank of England Helps Property Market

At the time of writing the Bank of England has announced that it is maintaining the Bank Base Rate at 0.5% and The Halifax House Price Index for April 2010 shows that UK house prices fell by 0.1% from March to April. This backs up the general confidence in the market that we have seen this year confirming that interests rates are staying at record low levels and that house prices are stable.

Certainly up until the announcement of the General Election, the market locally was active with plenty of sales being achieved and vendors putting their houses onto the open market.

It is true that during the election process there was a damping down of demand but that is only to be expected. The result of course initially was extremely uncertain and we have just heard that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have made the decision to join together in a coalition. This will hopefully produce a stable government that can tackle the National Deficit and give confidence to the markets and business in general. With this in mind we look forward to a traditionally busy Spring half term which we hope will be as buoyant as Easter.

We await confirmation on the new Government’s policy on Home Information Packs. Stamp Duty and any potential rise in Capital Gains Tax. The rumours as at the 13th May are that Home Information Packs will be abolished and that Capital Gains Tax for non business’ i.e. second homes, which are not holiday let, is to rise to 40%! We will have to wait and see.

We have just had the Music Festival which again was a great success although rather cold but it certainly had the effect of bringing more people to the town with general levels of interest in property increased. I am confident in forecasting a busy Summer for Dartmouth’s property market and for those vendors who are unsure when or whether to place their properties for sale, now is a wise time to hit the market.