Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

For a while now, house prices have been falling quickly and frequently. And it has seemed endless. But recently things seem to be picking up. But, for some, I think, there are benefits to the recession – low house prices, particularly.

My brother is a student, and he pays a lot of money each term to live in a flat that isn’t really worth it. But since there will always be students who need accommodation, there will always be people who benefit from this. I suppose it’s no wonder that parents are being urged to think about buying property around universities.
And for this brother, who has no house to sell, the falling prices in housing don’t really affect him – or, at least, they are far more beneficial than they are not. He can buy a house, and know it will probably be worth more before too long.

But there are very definitely signs that things are picking up. Retail sales in the UK picked last month, after falling drastically recently. It’s no more than a tiny speck of hope, but it certainly suggests that things might be changing. For that matter, so too does this article on house prices. They have been falling recently, like everything else, but it appears to be slowing.

With this in mind, it’s probably worth waiting a little while if you want to sell your house. And, of course, on the other hand, it seems we won’t be able to buy excessively cheap houses for very much longer.

My brother said to me the other day,that being a student at the moment is a bit like being in a bubble. Things happen that you have no control over, and there are things you don’t even see because of this bubble, but inside, everything is fairly constant.

And now, finally, it looks like some of that stillness might be returning to society