http://www. Figures revealing a sharp drop in mortgage approvals in January have confirmed that the UK housing market made a slow start to the year. The Bank of England said that the number of home loans approved for house purchases in January fell by 17% compared with the previous month. The 48,198 appro... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/03/2010&EventID=53 UK house prices 'dropped by 1.5%' UK house prices recorded their first monthly fall since June with a 1.5% drop in February, the Halifax has said. The drop was caused by the end of stamp duty relief, the cold weather and more properties being put up for sale. The average home is now wort... http://www./blog.asp?date=02/03/2010&EventID=52 UK house prices rose by 5.9% in 2009, making some recovery from the massive falls seen last year, the Nationwide building society has said. The rise in prices seen this year compared with a sharp fall of 15.9% in 2008, the lender said. The average cost of a home went up for the eighth month... http://www./blog.asp?date=31/12/2009&EventID=50 Property is now affordable for first-time buyers in nearly four out of 10 areas of the UK, research indicates. Someone on average earnings could now afford the average first-time buyer property in 39% of local authority districts, the Halifax bank said. In 2007, the year in which house price... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/03/2010&EventID=49 At this time of year, every other question i am asked is "So what do you think will happen in the property market in 2010?" Like you, I don’t have a crystal ball, so my predictions are based on my own opinions and the trends I have seen growing in 2009. If I look back at newspaper articles... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/01/2010&EventID=48 The proportion of home buyers who are purchasing a house for the first time has dropped to its lowest level this year, figures show. The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said that 19% were first-time buyers in November. This was down 3% on the previous month and the smallest p... http://www./blog.asp?date=21/12/2009&EventID=47 Growth in house prices in England and Wales slowed in December, according to property website Hometrack. It said the average cost of a home rose by just 0.1% to £156,900, as the number of house-hunters fell by 2.2%. Spokesman Richard Donnell said slow growth in household incomes and unemployment ... http://www./blog.asp?date=28/12/2009&EventID=45 Property websites.....many house hunters and sellers may not of heard of Zoopla before. I think things are about to change !! We all know about Rightmove, but their dominance in the property website is being tested by the two new big players in the market.....www.globrix.com and www.zoopla.c... http://www./blog.asp?date=12/12/2009&EventID=44 Halifax estate agency has been sold for £1 !! I think most people in the estate agency business were taken by suprise with this news. The estate agency arm of Halifax has made a considerable loss over the last few years and i guess now that Halifax has been taken over by the Lloyds Banking Gr... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/11/2009&EventID=43 Have you tried www.globrix.com to find your next house....or are you still using Rightmove ? The big new player in the game of property websites has got to be Globrix.com...backed by the mighty News International we have seen an incredible increase in quality leads generated by this new site. ... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/08/2009&EventID=42 In these difficult times it is imperative to support your local shops and businesses......Blaby has always had a vibrant village centre, with a variety of shops to suit all ages......ok...i hear you say there are too many estate agents!!!......this may be about to change with the introduction of par... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/10/2009&EventID=41 The Nationwide Building Society has introduced a mortgage allowing borrowers to take loans worth 125% of the value of the home they are buying. It will only be available to existing customers in negative equity who want to move house. Negative equity means that the value of someone's home is le... http://www./blog.asp?date=09/07/2009&EventID=40 Home loan numbers rise again but some rates increase... The Bank of England reported mortgage approvals rising for the fourth month in a row yesterday as buyers and sellers are tempted by record low interest rates. Approvals hit 43,414, the highest for 13months, but figures show people are not borro... http://www./blog.asp?date=02/07/2009&EventID=39 House prices are set to rise by more than 17 per cent this year says the most optimistic forecast since the recession began. By the end of last year property values had dropped by 22.5 per cent - but just five months into 2009 and the market has rallied so strongly that a top property investment fir... http://www./blog.asp?date=02/07/2009&EventID=38 Confidence in the housing market is continuing to recover, with the majority of people believing that prices will rise over the next year. A surevy by propertyfinder.com found that 53% of the 2500 respondents thought house prices would increase by 2010. Despite mortgage approvals being a third hig... http://www./blog.asp?date=29/06/2009&EventID=36 Confidence in the housing market is continuing to recover, with the majority of people believing that prices will rise over the next year. A surevy by propertyfinder.com found that 53% of the 2500 respondents thought house prices would increase by 2010. Despite mortgage approvals being a third hig... http://www./blog.asp?date=29/06/2009&EventID=35 Confidence in the housing market is continuing to recover, with the majority of people believing that prices will rise over the next year. A surevy by propertyfinder.com found that 53% of the 2500 respondents thought house prices would increase by 2010. Despite mortgage approvals being a third hig... http://www./blog.asp?date=29/06/2009&EventID=34 After another busy month i would say we are still in the woods, but we are out of the darkest place in the forest,as there appears to be much less uncertainty in the housing market than 6months ago. With continued hard work from the team at Walkers Estate Agents we have seen another increase in the... http://www./blog.asp?date=23/06/2009&EventID=33 Estate Agents across the county have reported rising sales as buyers return to the market. As i said last month, we have seen, since January, month on month increase in the number of buyers registering on mailing lists. Over thelast two or three months this has followed through into increased viewin... http://www./blog.asp?date=18/06/2009&EventID=32 Without a shadow of doubt there is a change under way within the housing market as we enter May 2009. The dark clouds are begining to thin........in my News & Views article in February i wrote that we had been suprisingly busy in January and we hoped that it was not just pent up demand from pre... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/05/2009&EventID=31 Without a shadow of doubt there is a change under way within the housing market as we enter May 2009. The dark clouds are begining to thin........in my News & Views article in February i wrote that we had been suprisingly busy in January and we hoped that it was not just pent up demand from pre... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/05/2009&EventID=30 The nationalised Northern Rock ank has reported an upsurge in potential mortgage customers. The number of new mortgage applications rose by 70% between February & March. The bank said its deals had become more competitive, even before it embarks on its plan to lend an extra £14billion in t... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/05/2009&EventID=29 The number of mortgages handed out by Lenders rose slightly in February, another indication that the market may be bottoming out, according to lender's group. Loans for houses purchases in February rose to 24,300, up y 4% compared in January, the Council Of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said. The... http://www./blog.asp?date=19/04/2009&EventID=28 Without a shadow of doubt the local market is seeing increased buyer activity. Driving round, more and more SOLD boards are appearing showing that the market is not as flat as some national newspaper want us to believe. The market remains very fragile and is still price driven. If potential buyers b... http://www./blog.asp?date=12/04/2009&EventID=27 Home owners were yesterday given fresh hope that the worst of the property slump may be over as confidence slowly returns to the market. Two separate reports said that future price rises, increased enquiries from would-be First Time Buyers and busier estate agents are all evidence that the b... http://www./blog.asp?date=03/03/2009&EventID=26 As we close the books on February we can definately report a signifcant change in the market since December. January was very busy and we all hoped it would continue into February and it sure did. The number of enquires that we received via email was up a staggering 81% !!!!, something that none of ... http://www./blog.asp?date=28/02/2009&EventID=25 Since December we have seen the number of web and email enquires increase by 81%, which is far greater than we would of expected at the begiining of the year. Many of the enquires are coming through Globrix.com, the fastest growing property website which we joined recently. The results so far have b... http://www./blog.asp?date=09/04/2009&EventID=24 boo.... http://www./blog.asp?date=19/12/2008&EventID=23 It will be interesting to see if the The Bank Of Englands shock decision to cut interest rates by 1.5 %, will have any effect on the housing market. It was the biggest reduction since 1981 and leaves the rates at their lowest since 1955. The weekend prior to the announcement, I read various Sunda... http://www./blog.asp?date=28/11/2008&EventID=22 PHONE UPDATE. At long last we are back up and running...................and believe it or not BT says we are not entitled to compensation. We have just had a new router installed so hopefully by Wednesday evening ALL our emails shall be back up and running. Thank you to everyone for the support over... http://www./blog.asp?date=18/11/2008&EventID=21 Its been on the cards for some time, but despite protests from local shops and small businessess, parking charges seem to be on the way for car parks in the Blaby District, this includes the large Waitrose Carpark and the one opposite the Bakers Arms public house. Will these charges put you off from... http://www./blog.asp?date=17/11/2008&EventID=20 Welcome to our new website………….. In a recent survey carried out by Rightmove, 83% of house hunters use the internet first when searching for their next home. Fewer and fewer house hunters , call into Estate Agents offices these days, many preferring to stay in the comfort of their own home. With thi... http://www./blog.asp?date=20/10/2008&EventID=19 Who would have believed four weeks ago that both the Halifax and Bradford & Bingley would have been taken over. It is really astonishing and no doubt has added to the uncertainty in the current housing market. Sellers are naturally becoming aware of the increasingly difficult market and as a result... http://www./blog.asp?date=20/10/2008&EventID=18 Welcome to News & Views a new feature on our website. With various negative reports in the local and national press I thought it was about time someone told it as it is. Having been an Estate Agent for 16 years i have worked in good and bad markets. Although running my own business, I am still... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/06/2005&EventID=17 Could you be an estate agent? If you are interested in a career in estate agency, drop your CV into our Blaby Office. I apologise for not updating NEWS & VIEWS sooner, but due to the sheer volume of business we have done over the last two months i have not had opportunity to do it. Although we ... http://www./blog.asp?date=31/08/2005&EventID=16 May i take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. Our offices re-open on the 3rd of January. The fourth quarter of the year has been extremely buoyant and we have experienced some of our busiest months, when normally we begin to see a slow down with ... http://www./blog.asp?date=28/12/2005&EventID=15 Come the New Year come the market predictions for 2006. What are you to believe, some sources in national and local press will have us believe that we have a mini boom this year whilst others suggest that the market remains fundamentally overvalued and is about to collapse. I do not agree with eithe... http://www./blog.asp?date=13/01/2006&EventID=14 It appears that the current price stability in the housing market is fuelling activity. We have seen an incredible increase in the number of people registering on our mailing list and also on our website. In May our website received on average 140 hits a DAY. We are finding more and more buyers are... http://www./blog.asp?date=10/06/2006&EventID=13 We are delighted to announce that we have been selected as the local agent for the National Homes Network, which will increase the marketing coverage of your house when selling through James Walker, attracting buyers from throughout the national network, which is made up of similar size, independent... http://www./blog.asp?date=15/07/2006&EventID=12 Happy New Year to you all. May I wish you good health for 2007. I cannot believe Christmas and New Year have come and gone so quickly. We have had a superb start to the year, with many new house hunters registering on our mailing list, undeterred by the latest increase in interest rates. A majority ... http://www./blog.asp?date=28/01/2008&EventID=11 The unusually warm seasonal weather, coupled with the lighter evenings seems to be encouraging activity in the housing market. Both of our offices have been very busy over the last 6 weeks and houses have been selling across all price ranges, indicating that there are plenty of buyers out there, all... http://www./blog.asp?date=16/03/2007&EventID=10 Despite all the doom and gloom in the national and local press about the property market, we have had another busy week at both of our offices. In the current market, the experience and expertise of the staff at James Walker has made a signifcant difference, within all aspects of the business.... http://www./blog.asp?date=10/11/2007&EventID=9 The Bank of England has today (6th Dec) cut the UK interest rate by 0.25% from 5.75% to 5.5% amid signs that the economy and the housing market is slowing down. The rate cut is the first since August 2005 and indicates the Governments concern that the slowdown may be sharper than at first predicted.... http://www./blog.asp?date=06/12/2007&EventID=8 May i take this opportunity of wishing everyone viewing our website a very happy and healthy 2008. Happy house hunting.... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/01/2008&EventID=7 Over the festive season, newspapers have been filled with doom and gloom about the housing market, many predicting a 2008 property crash. At James Walker, both of our offices in Oadby and Blaby, sold more houses in October & November than we did in 2006. Admittedly, viewings levels are down on the ... http://www./blog.asp?date=11/01/2008&EventID=6 This week yet another set of house prices figures were issued, this time by the Halifax. The figures only add further confusion to the mixed messages that sellers and buyers are getting from estate agents, mortgage lenders and newspapers According to the Halifax house price index, prices are 4.2% ... http://www./blog.asp?date=09/03/2008&EventID=5 Is it really as bad as the press and television say it is? I think not. If the media coverage continues as it is, they will talk us into a recession. Only two years ago everyone was saying property prices couldn't continue to rise as nobody could afford to by them and how silly prices were. Now, as ... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/06/2008&EventID=4 When did you last visit your local Estate Agents office or walk around the local town, visiting all then Estate Agents offices collecting house details ? The world of selling and buying property is changing rapidly. Currently almost 90% of people now search on-line for their next home. Consider... http://www./blog.asp?date=01/11/2008&EventID=1