UK property owners are currently being cautioned as to the potential dangers of subsidence as talk of a summer drought looms large over the country. Dry, arid conditions are also liable to affect property sellers and buyers and they also are advised to ensure that their insurance policies are fully up to date in time for the commencement of their purchase procedures.

There appears to be industry-wide evidence mounting that incidents of subsidence are on the rise, and this may be in part due to climatic change. Halifax Home Insurance reported that they received around 3,000 insurance claims for subsidence in 2009, a figure that is up 22% on the figure for 2008, and the company paid out more than $2 million for subsidence claims.

With respect to subsidence, repair costs can often spill into hundreds of thousands of pounds, with homes needing to be pulled down in the most extreme cases. According to Halifax, roughly 70% of all subsidence damage is the result of shrinking clay soil, and, due to the effects of moisture being taken from the soil by hedges and trees standing close to the property affected, the ground then shifts which results in the cracking of the foundations which causes very serious structural damage.

‘Trees and shrubs close to buildings are not generally a problem during the winter and spring as there is plenty of rainfall to satisfy the vegetation and keep soils stable. As drier warmer weather arrives, clay soil can become unstable as it dries out and shrinks. The larger and closer to the property trees are, and the older and shallower the foundations of the home, the greater the recipe for damage,’ commented Neil Curling, senior claims manager.

Perhaps the most visibly obvious sign of subsidence damage is the appearance of cracks in the walls of the property. Despite the fact that the majority of cracks are not especially significant, subsidence-relating cracking is often expensive to put right as the root causes must be addressed in order to solve the problem. The cracks from subsidence also tend to get wider from one end to the other.

The Halifax recommends that, for the sake of security and peace of mind-as well as financial reasons, prospective buyers should not cut corners with regards to searches and surveys.

UK residential property lettings agents are now being persuaded to encourage landlords to think about renting properties to pet-owning tenants on the back of the great success of a new scheme. The newly-unveiled Dogs Trust Lets With Pets campaign, which has been put together to persuade rental agents to accept pet-owning tenants, and the scheme has certainly proved to be a resounding success-and the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) licensed companies have warming embraced the scheme and its aims.

‘Since the launch of the campaign the interest and support from agents and landlords looking to make properties available to pet owners has been really strong. This campaign has raised awareness of the challenge pet owners face and has demonstrated there is a very real opportunity for landlords and letting agents to tap into, if they take the right precautions. We are, after all, a nation of animal lovers, with more than 43% of the population owning pets,’ explained Caroline Pickering, who is the chairman of NALS.

It can certainly be very difficult to find accommodation that will also allow your pets free range of the property explains Paul Martin, who presents Flog It, which is a popular show on BBC television. ‘In the past I have experienced problems trying to find suitable rental accommodation for me and my pets and most landlords were very negative. This not only severely limited the market, but was difficult emotionally as my pets are very much part of the family,’ Paul explained.

Paul went on to say that, in general, pet owners are perfectly happy to pay slightly higher rents in order to get a suitable rental property, as well as arranging for the property to be professionally cleaned when the tenancy is over. Paul also concluded that landlords should be actively encouraged to rent to pet owners, as they make excellent, responsible long-term tenants.

The scheme, which was the brain child of the canine welfare charity, landlords can access something called a Pet Information Form, which gives details of tenants pets as well as their veterinary practise. Advice booklets can also be downloaded from the charity’s website.

According to industry experts, poor inventories currently cost UK landlords around £12 million per year in lost claims due to the fact that the absence of prepared evidence counts against them in deposit disputes. Since the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme was introduced back in 2007, it has been firmly incumbent upon the landlords to prove their case. As a result, however, of improperly prepared inventories and a paucity of real evidence, it is now claimed that landlords have lower than a 1-in-10 prospect of prevailing in the event of a dispute.

There were 23,500 deposit disputes in 2009, and this figure has been growing at a rate every year. Also during 2009, 92% of all cases were decided in favour of the tenant and cost landlords approximately £12 in lost claims according to figures from the Video Inventory Agency.

According to Frazer Fearnhead, founder of the TDPS, the new system is vital in order to protect tenants, although he states that the residential property market in general “has been consistently undermined by incomplete or sub-standard inventories.”

‘When it comes to inventories, landlords have traditionally got away with the bare minimum. In my time I have seen inventories that have been scribbled on the back of an envelope. However, since 2007, the balance of power has swung in favour of the tenant. This is positive since many would-be cowboys have been pushed out of the market. However, it also means that law abiding landlords are losing money unnecessarily,’ Mr Fearnhead explained.

Mr Fearnhead began TVIA after facing a deposit dispute in one of his properties, when an incomplete photographic inventory resulted in a lack of evidence to back up his case. After the case, he was determined to protect the property-owning community.

To this end, the TVA offers landlords up-to-date video inventories designed specifically to protect the assets of landlords. Each inventory uses similar practices to those found in police standard procedures in filming crime scenes, and every written inventory is supported by high definition video evidence t is specifically designed to be presented in court. Mr Fearnhead is convinced that landlords should avail themselves of the service, as video evidence “offers no room for debate.”

There has been a markedly high level of activity in the West End commercial property market in London, with particular interest coming from foreign investors. There have been a number of landmark sales of late, especially in the retail and office markets.

Simon Taylor, the head of commercial development at LDG, a specialist estate agency in the West End, believes that tangible assets are what really attract foreign investors and London’s commercial property is generally perceived as a safe bet.

He commented he believes that there will continue to be a strong market in the West End, especially as the emergency budget has now been announced and people are now much more clear as regards to the government’s plans, and that despite the fact that the Pound is continuing to strengthen commercial properties and investments is both the West End and Central London are still seen as cheap by foreign investors and this has driven the recent deals seen in the market.

This is seen to be driven by the fact that foreign investors mainly want to buy tangible assets, and London’s commercial properties are seen as a safe bet – particularly as London is one of the few places in the world that offers long leases with upward-only reviews every five years-which is another clear attraction for those foreign investors.

Investment from the Middle East has tripled in UK commercial property during the last five years due to the fact that the Gulf has looked to take advantage of the dramatic falls in UK real estate prices, according to figures from the international law firm Trowers Hamlins. During 2009, investors from the Arabic world spent almost £1.5 billion on UK commercial property, which accounted for 16% of all foreign investment in the sector. The figure compares with the 2004 figure of 5%.

According to Ed Trevillion, who is head of property research at SWIP, rental growth could well be driven by a lack of supply, which could push up total returns during the course of the next three to five years. Mr Trevillion stated that SWIP are positive with respect to the office sectors in the West end and city areas of London over the course of the mid-long term.

According to the latest figures from the Land Registry, a record 32,000 Britons currently own property in Turkey, indicating that Turkey’s real estate sector is still stable and in decent shape.

Turkey has especially attracted European buyers as a result of the general affordability of the property prices there, as well as the low cost of living and easy, direct access from Britain.  In Turkey, foreigners now own more than 63 million square metres of property, and British people own the largest amount of all at six million square metres. The Germans are next, owning 3.5 million square metres followed by the Greeks with three million square metres, according to figures from the Turkish Land Registry.

One of the most sought after destinations for buying property is the province of  Mugla in the south western part of the Aegean cost. The province has nearly 5.5 million square metres owned by foreign nationals and this includes around 14,000 British owners.

‘We have certainly seen the Turkish property market go from strength to strength. Overall, the number of foreign property buyers has increased by nearly 30%, from 73,000 in 2008 to 104,000 today with the British market accounting for the largest group of buyers,’ commented Steven Worboys, who is the managing director of Experience International, a firm of Turkish property experts.

The increase in available finances have positively affected the Turkish property market with up to 70% LTV mortgages being commonly available throughout Turkey. Also, Turkey is outside the Eurozone, so there is no currency exposure due to the fact that the majority of property prices are fixed in Pounds Sterling. The latest Turkish price index has also shown that generally, property prices have remained stable.

According to the latest published figures, there has been no let up in UK property prices, with only Northern Ireland experiencing price falls during the second quarter of 2010. June saw a general picture of stability with house prices edging up by a seasonally-adjusted 0.1% (month-on-month). This figure comes on the back of May’s 0.5% increase, according to Nationwide’s latest price index. The quarter-on-quarter rate of change was a little smoother, seeing a slight rise from 1.7% to 1.8% – decent news for home owners and mortgage seekers alike, including first-time buyers seeking to get into a relatively stable market. Contrastingly, the annual rate of house price inflation fell for the second month in a row, from 9.8% to 8.7%. The drop appears to reflect the fact that house prices were rising much faster at the same time last year.

The strongest growth for the quarter was seen in the south west of England, with prices rising by a seasonally-adjusted 3.0% and up 12.5% annually. The best performance on an annual basis was seen in the Greater London area where prices rose by 13.2% on the second quarter of last year.

The northern and midland regions saw weaker growth generally than the southern regions, with the east midlands seeing the weakest levels of growth among all the English regions with a quarterly price rise of 1.2%.

The south west of England has seen the strongest regional growth during the quarter in question, and London has posted the strongest overall growth, according to Nationwide’s latest quarterly index.

The index also indicates that annual house price increases in Scotland increased from 5.6% in the first quarter to 7.2% whilst still remaining below the UK average. Wales saw a quarterly price rise similar to that seen in the rest of the UK with a quarterly rise of 1.8%. On an annual basis, however, Wales was the second-weakest region overall, with prices climbing by a mere 4.7%, year-on-year.

Overall house prices in the UK rose by 1.9% quarter-on quarter during the second three months of the year. This means that the annual growth rate stood at 9.5%, which is up from the figure of 8.8% seen in the first quarter of this year.

How often do you actually take to make a decision about what to do with your life? According to a recent survey conducted by major mortgage lender ING Britons take a considerable amount of time pondering over some new purchases or changes to take place in their lives – and considerably less time than may be expected in others. When deciding what satellite TV package to purchase, for instance, the survey showed that on average consumers will spend approximately 217 minutes making up their mind. This is a fair bit shy of the 284 minutes they spend in deciding upon which new television to purchase, though is still more than the 164 minutes used in deciding what coffee table would look good in their home. When deciding whether to purchase a home, however, consumers are the most thrifty with their time, using a mere 21 minutes to decide whether or not to buy a house.

This may come as a shock to many people, yet at the same time given recent market trends it can’t be too unexpected. Fueled by low mortgage rates, various incentives targeted at supporting first-time buyers and some of the lowest fixed-rate mortgages available on the market today many people feel that it is indeed a buyer’s market and as such need to make up their minds quickly and decisively or lose out on a potentially good deal. This was somewhat encouraged by some agents as well, with roughly 26% of all respondents in the survey saying that the agent in charge of the sale made a point of how other parties are interested in the home and roughly 21% of all respondents reporting that they felt pressured into making a decision.

The longest average time in deciding on which home to purchase was actually found in Yorkshire and Humber, though their overall average was not much off from the national average at 23.54 minutes. London buyers came in second in terms of caution at 23.25 minutes, though the most impulsive buyers can be found in East Anglia with an overall average of only 18.87 minutes needed before deciding to seal the deal.

House prices have shown a rather considerable gain over the first three months of the year, with the first quarter showing an overall 3% gain in total value to bring the current home price up to roughly £170,111 on average across the country. This has been primarily supported by a number of factors according to market analysts, particularly in regards to the overall continued low mortgage rates offered by lending institutions thanks to the low base interest rate set by the central bank. In turn this has even flowed over into steadily decreasing fixed-rate mortgages and other packages being offered by lending groups throughout the nation in order to help support both new and seasoned buyers in the real estate markets purchase their desired homes or land.

The regular growth from month to month, however, may not be something that can easily be sustained for much longer according to recent figures. In fact, based on reports from the nation’s leading mortgage lender Halifax, the overall increasing price of homes throughout the country is beginning to slack off as the year progresses, with an average increase of only 0.1% being seen in the month of June. This has been attributed primarily to the growing saturation of homes in the market and the subsequent price fluctuations attributed to them as greater supply is working to drive down the overall pressure faced by the constant demand.

This dropping overall cost has worked in a number of ways to help sate many previously frustrated buyers, particularly first-time buyers that have found it difficult if not impossible to enter into the market due to the huge overall cost necessary to do so. This does not necessarily bode well all around, however, as lower costs may also drive down lender desires to approve loans for purchases that may be less likely to guarantee increasing value over time, so buyers should beware before selecting a home in a zone that has recently seen a price decline unless they have a strong credit history and financial base to back up their application with.

Recent reports gathered from various housing agencies indicate that the growing imbalance between earnings and house prices will only work to continue to push many people out of the real estate market at least for the time being – and thus help inflate the buy-to-let market considerably. The reason for this change primarily lies in the fact that most buyers considering purchasing their own home are currently heavily in debt when then enter into the market, with approximately £20,000 on average carried over from previous university or other education expenses. When combined with an overall less-than-ideal work environment generated from the ongoing economic difficulties faced by most workers this means that many people will be putting off purchasing a home for quite some time.

On the same token the growing economic pressure to rent rather than buy means that many potential home owners are considering a much more pro-active approach to home rentals than they have in the past. While in earlier years many people in society tended to shun away from long-term rentals as a “taboo” option the growing disparity between house buyers and renters means that this is no longer the case for many people.

When coupled with continuing low mortgage rates offered by lending institutions this is particularly good news for many investors looking to expand their buy-to-let portfolio and, in turn, keep the rental market inflated in many areas, thus keeping rental prices down despite the growing trend to move towards renting rather than outright purchases.

Another big plus for many developers lies in the fact that as of right now many lending institutions are offerings highly competitive rates on many mortgage options, particularly fixed-rate mortgages with considerable down-payments available at the time of purchase. This bodes well for many developers looking to inflate and keep up their portfolios, and with leading mortgage lender Kensington stating that many renters are considering to remain on the rental market for the next 5 years at least investors have strong encouragement to continue in this trend into the good part of this decade.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has previously declared that any further cuts in what is known as capital spending would most likely have stunted or otherwise seriously affected the construction industry as it recovered through the rebounding economy and undermine the overall recovery process throughout the whole country. To further underscore this opinion they have recently announced as well their pleasure over the budget declaration earlier this week that further budget cuts will not be done to the construction industry at all over the coming period, with industry representatives further relaxing in the wake of the decision.

Many analysts feel that the commercial market will also benefit greatly from the overall reduction in corporate taxes over the coming four years, helping to encourage greater business investment. This is further followed up by the fact that continuing low interest rates are working particularly well to drive down many commercial mortgage costs while at the same time stimulating the overall real estate sector by driving further growth – particularly those developments targeted at first-time buyers purchasing homes.

The primary concern remaining in regards to the real estate market’s reaction to any additional taxes or removal of government funding lies in the fact that many industry leaders feel any further financial strain would result in many investors losing confidence in the UK property market and therefore stinting the overall development opportunities throughout the country.

Current forecasts for the property market indicate that investors are expected to earn roughly 8.5% interest on any funds invested in development over the next five years from this point forward, far outpacing many alternative investment options that are now available.