Foxtons' Founder Says Property Market Reached a Turning Point

The founder of a reputable British estate agency - Foxtons Ltd. -, Mr. Jon Hunt, recently said that, in his opinion, the prolonged downturn on the UK property market is about to end. Despite the fact that Mr. Hunt sold the Foxtons Estate Agency right on the dawn of the credit crunch (in summer of 2007), he now says that he sees new buying opportunities in some areas of the property industry. In the opinion of Mr. Hunt, the UK housing market has already declined by 20-25 per cent and is unlikely to decrease any further. He is too cautious to call the current period the bottom of the market, however, he is determined that the turning point has been reached. Mr. Hunt confessed that the current market conditions is what he has been waiting for during his entire life as a distressed market coupled with a cash-rich property man make a perfect combination. The ex-owner of Foxtons, which, by the way, was sold for £370 million to the BC Partners private equity group, still possesses more than £300 million from the estate agency's sale. Although Mr. Hunt refuted the talks of him returning to Foxtons, he announced that he plans to launch a new serviced apartments operation in the city of London. It is important to note that in spite of his optimistic attitude towards the situation on the UK property market, Mr. Hunt acknowledges that it will take approximately 10 years before the UK housing market will be on its peak again. The forecasts of Mr. Hunt were recently proven by the report published by IHS Global Insight last week. The report stated that poor economic base coupled with tight credit conditions are highly likely to result in the fact that housing prices will face relapses in the coming future.