Whilst we may chose to live in a more relaxed enviroment with constant sunshine it seems we still retain a big interest in “what is happening back home” with regards to property values. This may be because you still own property in the UK or are considering returning home and therefore want an indication of what your money will buy.

2010 proved yet again that trying to forecast how and where the housing market will move has been almost impossible. Depending upon which paper you read during the year you could be viewing the year as a disaster or one of a considerable success. Two extreme views but it seems the “grey safe” options are not always on peoples radar.

According the The Land Registry despite house prices falling during the latter part of 2010 , they rose by 1.5% as a whole across 2010. Prior to 2010 many of the so called experts were asked to predict where the market would be at the end of the year. Predictions ranged from a fall of 10% to a rise of 10%. The Halifax and Nationwide predicted the market would stand still so in fairness they were not far away from the real figures.

The market as we know is very localised and predicting how the market will react in a defined period of time is very difficult as too many factors come into play. 2011 will certainly be very interesting as the austerity measures start to bite, the fear of increasing unemployment, lower mortgage approvals and of course demand.

The housing market has been almost as volatile as the currency market and making decisions at the right time is crucial. If you are looking to send funds back to the UK or bring them out of the UK talk to a currency specialist such as our preferred partner Moneycorp who can watch the market for you thereby ensuring you maximise your funds.