It is no surprise that the house prices in the UK has dropped by a further 0.3% last month, and experts from the property investment arena have predicted a downward slip-up of about 10% in price rates by next year.

The average house is priced at £163,400 – a price that is almost parallel to that in 2009 – £162,800 to be precise! However, unlike homeowners and sellers who are looking at the situation as a bleak prospect, financial experts think otherwise.

For instance, Martin Gahbauer, the chief economist for Nationwide Building Society has compared it positively with the price rates of 2008 (a period when the Economic downturn was most intense), which had been -5% to -6%. He insists that the decline in property prices even after an upswing during the summer of 2010 is because of panicky sellers returning to the sector, rather than an unstable domain.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in UK has also seconded this opinion, and going a step further by predicting a 4% to 4.3% climb in house price rates in the years ranging from 2012 to 2014.

However, there are a lot of varied opinions on the falling prices, with some consultancies such as IHS Global Insight predicting a decline of about 10% or more in the coming year. Even though this is a bit tight to predict, most financial experts point to many factors that have influence the drop in property prices – and the Recession or weak property investment prospects are not among them.

For example, Capital Economics has laid out 4 main points for the fluctuation in property and real estate price tags:

• Restricted access to credit in the property markets
• Decline in demand for large scale property and real estate bargains
• Absence of a supportive ambiance for sales
• Scarcity of public sector jobs

However, all of these point to one silver lining among the dark clouds of the UK property market – the prospects for investment for entrepreneurs. Those willing to take the plunge with the help of property management & investment courses can pocket huge rewards down the line.

For with a steadily recovering economy and dirt-cheap property prices, opportunities for property investment agents were never as golden as now!

Wendy xx

You see according to some of the UK’s leading Estate agents, over 1 in 10 properties across the UK are selling for more than their asking price.

In their quest to secure the best properties, homeowners are now willingly paying more than the properties original asking price so they can own properties in London, Oxford and Cornwall. And the reason for this sudden uptake? The fact that we are in the midst of one of the biggest housing shortages witnessed for the last 30 years.

In a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, they reported a 16% drop in the number of unsold properties. And this figure is closely matched by the fact that there are only 58.4 properties per estate agent across the UK. Now when you look at this statistic like this, that is not a lot.

It is really incredible to think how much of an impact a simple housing shortage – combined with tempting discounted properties – can have on property prices. In many ways it is ironic – the competition for these properties.

Think back only 6 months ago and many homeowners would have refused to pay above price. Then on the other hand this story also casts an interesting slant on an issue that many of us have not comprehended. I.E. The possibility that as more and more homeowners return to the property market that house prices will begin to rise again.

Wendy xx

I honestly don’t know what to make of this article by BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7855847.stm. It is either very original or very crazy.

You see the council are planning to build social houses out of Straw bales. Now whilst on the one hand I have got a clear image of the 3 little pigs in my head, the reliability and popularity of these type of properties is meant to be really high.

And part of me can see what they mean. Easy to build and replenish, great for insulation… hey it is even a great asset for farmers, offering them a new source of revenue. And that point there makes them particularly good for the economy.

But then there is their price. At £120,000, that is pretty steep for a straw property that can easily burn down. To me, all this just feels like repetition. The government are doing exactly what they did before and are not learning from their mistakes. And instead of creating an easily accessible affordable asset – which it is to some extent – these properties are still out of some people’s budgets.

Think about it. You can now get terraced properties – in some locations of the UK – for under £100,000. And these are buildings made of brick and stone. More wearable and lasting. Whilst these straw buildings will look like traditional properties, underneath they are not. They are not as durable and could end costing more to maintain.

Anyways I was wondering what you all thought about it.

For example, will this become another avenue for property investment, or is this something that is not liable to last? It is a growing craze after all.

Anyways, speak soon.

Give me your thoughts on what you think of it.

Wendy xx

I know many investors tell you to try and avoid student property, but I can’t see what the problem is? So I was wondering if anyone else has an opinion on it?

You see in an article I read the other day they talked about how of the 5.6 million students who choose to go to university each year, only 30.12% of them are provided with accommodation.

Do the maths and that means 3.85 million students across the whole of the UK have to look elsewhere to live.

Well I don’t know about you, but this got me intrigued, so I started looking around to see what the cash flow for these types of properties was and I was pleasantly surprised with the stats that I found.

Whilst universities on average charge £56.85 a week, in the private sector they only charge £51.57.

Now I know what you’re thinking – that these figures means property investors are earning less. But that is not strictly true. With such a saving more and more students are opting to rent privately.

With this point at the forefront of my mind, I decided to dig a little deeper to see what other locations were offering, and I have to admit I was impressed. They got better and better:

London: 102.85 a week
Leeds: £62.03 a week
Guildford: £61.88 a week

But now I don’t know what to do. Do I use this information to invest? Or do I keep looking?

What do you guys think? Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated – get back to me xx