Confidence and bumblebees; the great intangibles?

Aerodynamically, a bumblebee should not be able to fly but a bumblebee does not know this, so it goes on flying regardless. The housing market, it seems, like bumblebees, carries on regardless, despite seemingly unending evidence and opinion in the media that it shouldn’t.

At the start of 2007 the average property price to income ratio was 4.4, by the second quarter of 2011 this is 3.6. The cost of borrowing is at record low levels. It is, on average, cheaper to buy than to rent.

As an island with one of the highest property owning rates on the planet, ownership of your own little piece of England is as natural as it is to talk about the weather. Our country’s rich history and diversity has brought so many benefits to life in modern Britain, yet the fundamental of your home being your castle it appears is hardwired into our country’s psyche. With rising life expectancy, the prospect of actually paying off a mortgage has allowed family homes to become meaningful parts of retirement plans.

Yet the dripping tap effect of daily reporting of negative headlines has left quite a puddle. A two year old views a puddle as the most exciting thing in the world, grownups, however, tend to avoid them (although I, for one, cannot resist a splash in my wellies, when no one is looking, as I walk my dog at 6:00 each morning!). Yet properties are selling and people are moving, for the much same reasons they moved last year and are likely to move next year.

The autumn is in full flow as burning shades of leaves fall to the delight of children and the frustration of gardeners. Halloween has passed and we look forward to celebrating the thwarting of Guy Fawkes’ Gunpowder Plot . Gunpowder was discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality. As a byproduct of his work to improve mining safety, Alfred Nobel developed the forerunner of modern smokeless ‘gunpowders’ in 1887. The irony of these twists and turns of history is sadly apparent, as we prepare to commemorate Armistice Day at 11 o’clock on 11/11/11.

Bumblebees, regretfully are in decline. Of the 25 species found in the British Isles, three are nationally extinct and many more are seriously threatened. However, there are many plant species which require bumblebees to fertilize them. Confidence is the pollinator of our market; encouraging vendors to sell and purchasers to buy. Yet confidence can become a self-fulfilling prophesy, as those without it may fail or not try because they lack it and those with it may succeed because they have it. The housing market it seems, like the humble bumblebee is surviving. There were plans to reintroduce the short –haired bumblebee back into the wild this summer.

Also, the Heritage Lottery Fund are directing £340,000 towards the charity Bees For Everyone, a Bumblebee Conservation Trust initiative, to assist its 20,000 volunteers with an awareness campaign to help protect the endangered bumblebee.

I have high hopes for the bumblebee and a reintroduction of confidence back into the market with the optimism of a new year and all that awaits us in our Olympic year.

Matthew Hallett
Partner
Head of Residential Sales, Winchester