Buying or selling houses in the UK at the moment can be a challenge even for the nicest of houses. Since the housing market downturn and the banks reluctant to lend money to people to buy houses, the housing market is stale. With many houses being on the books for months even years, rather than weeks as once was. conveyancing solicitors have found themselves without work and the economy in general is just not moving enough for the banks to put trust in lending. Many people who bought and paid significantly high prices when the housing boom was at its height, are now finding that their houses are not worth what they paid for them and are left with the prospect of negative equity when selling.

More and more houses are coming on to the market for rental purposes, and this does seem the way forward for many young people who are wanting their own home but simply cannot afford the deposit to get onto the property ladder.

Back at the peak of the boom, there were no shortage of houses on the market, and with literally thousands of people looking for homes, if you had a good house in a desirable area, then people were willing to bid up silly prices on the price originally suggested by the estate agent. People were able to do this as banks were willing to lend as much money as a person needed to get the house they wanted. Gone were the days when you had to be earning a certain amount of money to afford a certain house, anyone with a job could plough there money into property and the banks were willing to help make this happen. The reality of this era, is that the boom did come to an abrupt end, jobs were in decline and with people losing their jobs, they were also faced with the prospect that they could no longer afford their hefty mortgages meaning that houses were repossessed.

It will be some years before the economy and the housing market gets back on an even keel, and for the banks and many people who have ended this era in debt a huge lesson has been learnt.