The national press makes rather depressing reading at the moment. Things however may not be as bad as they seem for the North West.

Figures which have recently been produced by the Land Registry indicate that the North West and Manchester in particular, saw price increases of 3.2% in April of this year. Furthermore, prices in the North West generally so far haven’t seen as much of a fall in price as in the South East.

The Land Registry figures provide one of the more accurate price monitors recording the actual price for which the property is sold as opposed to the “advertised” price. There is not a property crisis but rather what seems to be a financial/banking crisis and until the financial institutions start to generate some liquidity in the money markets then it would appear that the housing market will be tarred with the same brush.

Clearly, the global credit crunch has already affected the UK and made banks wary of lending but for buyers who can raise a deposit then there are chances to be taken and an advantage is to be gained by lower house prices.