Cut interest rates are a good thing for potential buyers

According to Gary McCausland, a falling market can actually provide more opportunities. ‘People start to get nervous and panic sell,’ he says. ‘They then become motivated sellers and it becomes a buyers market. And if you go in at the bottom, you’ll rise that much further when the market recovers.’

Interest rates were slashed to 3% in December last year, which is good news for potential homebuyers and those struggling with mortgage payments. There is also hope that cut interest rates may stop the sharp decline in house prices, according to figures from Nationwide, the annual house prices slowed to 13.9% in November, from 14.6% in October.

McCausland advises not getting too caught up in trying to predict the market: ‘The key to successful investment in property doesn’t lie in trying to second-guess market timing, but in getting the fundamentals right,’ he says. ‘If you do that, and the market drops by 20 per cent, you ought to be able to handle the situation – the house that you bought cheap, in a good location, may lose some value, but if you hang on in, it will go up again eventually. The logic of the property market is that in the long term prices will rise, because people want houses.’