Home owners waiting for the right moment to ‘trade-up’

Research by first direct, part of HSBC, has found that some four million home owners are waiting for the right moment to ‘trade-up’ and cash in on low property prices before they start to rise.

Recently there have been some small signs that the property market is starting to make some recovery

Building on this, first direct findings indicate that 15% of Brits think that there will be a return to steady growth by the end of 2009.

More than 4 million UK home owners are watching the property market very closely to try and cash in on the cheapest property prices before they start to rise again.

first direct spokesman, Jimmy Kelly said ‘If property is your preferred investment, it’s worth existing home-owners investigating offset mortgages as a savings option while they wait for the right time to invest. With savings accounts paying such low rates of interest at the moment, offsets are looking particularly attractive.’

He added ‘Swapping to an offset mortgage could cut down the length of a £100,000 25 year mortgage by almost three years and save £18,322 in interest payments over the lifetime of the mortgage.’

This property market waiting game affects people in different ways.

Interestingly nearly half of the nation either feel lucky to be able to take advantage of buying property whilst prices are low or are thrilled simply at the prospect of getting a bargain.

Whatever, access to mortgage funds is no doubt an issue for many people.

Mortgage providers are starting to have more mortgage products available, including some with higher LTV percentages and offset mortgages, as referred to by Kelly.