Author: |Posted: 10:33 am on 29/05/09
Category: Buying & Selling, House Prices, Mortgages & Home Finance, Property & Money
Nobody’s calling the bottom of the market just yet, but today the Nationwide Building Society said that UK house prices rose 1.2% in May – the biggest rise in over a year and a half.
Is this the start of the great house price recovery? Probably not. With the economy predicted to contract by 3.5% this year, unemployment set to rise, and the general scarcity of lending capital showing few signs of abating, May 2009 could well be a blip on the graph.
According to the Nationwide House Price Index, April saw a 0.3% fall (-15% year-on-year), while May’s 1.2% rise puts average house prices 11.3% down on 2008 prices.
Whether the recovery’s started or not, it does at least look as though the rate at which prices fall should be wholly more manageable than in 2008.
Learn more about how house prices are calculated, or read the full May 2009 Nationwide House Prices Report.
Which way do you think house prices will go? Has the market bottomed out? Let us know your thoughts by leaving comments below…
Author: |Posted: 2:54 pm on 26/05/09
Category: On TV
After an entertaining and expensive series opener, lots of viewers got in touch via Twitter to tell us what they thought of George’s second coming. Here are some of the responses:
HouseHistorian: ‘Home show was great..I actually live nearby & was shocked the house had got into such a bad state..fab that they kept the fireplace!’
SJSInteriors: ‘Loved it, thought Kirstie would be a heard act to follow, but George did not disapoint. Tough house to make over. Roll on Thursday’
LivingRoomBuzz: ‘Kitchen space was great but a lot of money to spend without adding extra space – did George’s changes add value in current market?’
Home4AllSeasons: ‘I thought that for such a huge budget there would have been more of a change. only because previously great things done on much less’
What did you think of the new series of The Home Show? Leave comments below for the 4Homes team, or contact us on Twitter.
Author: |Posted: 5:11 pm on 20/05/09
Category: On TV
The dust has barely settled in the 4Homes office after a hectic few weeks of Kirstie’s Homemade Home, but there’s no time for resting on laurels as we gear up for the return of everyone’s favourite architect, George Clarke. A brand new series of The Home Show starts tomorrow (Thursday) at 8pm, so we’re turning our attention from crafts to renovation with a whole host of new DIY and home improvement advice.
As well as the regular episode information, we’ll be going all out to bring you plenty of step-by-step DIY advice from George. He’s also provided us with lots of his top 10 tips for various renovation jobs, all of which can be found on The Home Show’s homepage.
The first programme sees George tackling a troublesome house in swanky Parsons Green, London. Tired, dilapidated, and in some respects downright dangerous, Anthony & Alicia’s family home is in shabby shape. Fortunately this couple have a huge budget to play with, although even this is stretched by some nasty surprises in the roof. Once they hand the cheque over to GC his very capable hands set about working their magic, with wonderful results.
Catch The Home Show on Thursdays at 8pm on Channel 4, or watch any time you like at channel4.com/catchup.
Since the programme started, we’ve been inundated with comments about what’s proving to be a divisive series. At a guess, I’d say 80% of comments have been glowing, with the remaining 20% scathing in the extreme!
Of course, no TV show can please everyone (some people even dislike Grand Designs, would you believe?!) The majority of feedback focuses on the programme giving people the confidence to try crafts themselves. Kirstie’s mission statement was to get more people into traditional crafts, so I think we can be content with a job well done.
The most satisfying comments and emails we’ve had are from people who run craft supplies stores, or teach classes in traditional skills. For example, Megan who runs www.cumbriancountrycrafts.co.uk emailed me to say, ‘Recently my orders have gone through the roof… now my sales are great.’
Similarly, Dorothy from www.sheepishwoolshop.co.uk got in touch with the following: ‘You really have inspired my customers and created such interest in the art of knitting. I own a wool shop and your program is certainly the topic of the moment. Customers who have never knitted and are now hungry to learn. Thank you for the inspiration!’
In times when tales of economic woe prevail, it’s a refreshing escape to hear stories of businesses flourishing in what’s rapidly becoming a mini crafts renaissance.
if you’ve loved the show and would like Kirstie’s help turning your house into a homemade home, you can apply to be on Kirstie’s Homemade Home here.
Catch Kirstie’s Homemade Home tonight at 8 on Channel 4. 4Homes will be tweeting live during the show – join in the conversation at twitter.com/4Homes. You can catch up on any missed episodes over at channel4.com/catchup
Author: |Posted: 4:40 pm on 07/05/09
Category: On TV
Unless you’ve been trapped in the attic for the past couple of years, it probably hasn’t escaped your attention that social networking site Twitter is rapidly taking over the world.
It’s a great way of communicating and the 4Homes team are hooked. If you want to contact any of the staff you can do so, but better than that, you can also send messages to 4Homes presenters Kirstie Allsopp, Sarah Beeny and George Clarke!
Understandably they’re inundated with questions from viewers, but all three of them pull out the stops to reply to as many people as possible about absolutely anything you care to ask.
You can sign up for Twitter here, and use the links below to check out the profiles of the 4Homes team.
4Homes Presenters
Sarah Beeny On Twitter
Kirstie Allsopp On Twitter
George Clarke On Twitter
4Homes Staff
4Homes Twitter Feed
Lelia Ferro, C4 Editor
Lucy Searle, Editor
Rich Payne, Deputy Editor
Emma Jones, Senior Writer
Author: |Posted: 4:13 pm on 07/05/09
Category: On TV
4Homes favourite Sarah Beeny has announced via Twitter that she is indeed pregnant, expecting her fourth child.
Moving slightly off-topic, eight brand new episodes of Property Ladder will be airing in June, and we’re eagerly anticipating the most interesting series yet, as developers grapple with a falling market.
