What Country’s are Helping Home Owners to Sell Their House?

In the US, recent government intervention and green shoots have added confidence to the housing market so things should be on a slow and steady up rise now. The US government have been smart with getting the house market moving again. Unlike the Brits they realised that the number one thing that was holding the market back was the lenders ability to lend. The US government really grabbed the lenders by the hands and privatised both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Not only did they rescue you them but they have injected Billions of pounds into them as well. On the downside this has massively increased Americas level of debt, but still has got the property market moving again and US citizens are finding it far easier to sell their house then in the UK.

In the UK, the government have privatised two major banks,and they have also injected millions of pounds into the banks to help free up credit. The difference is the US lenders have passed this influx of cash onto the consumer which has made mortgages more freely available for millions. On the other hand in the UK this money appears to have been squandered and largely used to pay off old debts. Rather than taking the american approach of get things moving quickly now and pay off debts later which I think all Europeans would prefer. The UK has taken a more conservative approach and have decided to pay off debts rather than invest in growth. The Government have just recently announced plans to allow first time buyers to borrow up to 95% of their homes value but unfortunately because house prices are so high it is almost impossible to achieve the loan to value ratio , where your property can only be worth four times your annual income.

When you look at the level of debt the major European countries have compared to soaring positive bank balances from Asia and the middle east it seems that Europe’s good old days are over.  The problem I can see is that the UK isn’t doing itself any favours by being conservative as they are effectively holding us back whilst the rest of the world moves on. It does seem that the UK and the rest of Europe have conceived to Asia but the US are showing that they still have guts to move forward and speculate on achieving growth.