THE housing market’s latest buzz-words may make linguistic purists wince, but they serve as a guide to current conditions in certain locations. Take “munching”, for example.

Hear this term bandied about and you will know that regeneration is starting in an area. Munching is the technical term for the deconstruction of buildings: digging machines gnaw away at the carcass of a building ripe for demolition until nothing is left standing. Pulling down buildings is, like, so yesterday.

There is likely to be much talk of munching in rundown east Manchester, the site of the new supercasino and wagered to be the new property hot spot.

Munching may start very soon in Canning Town, a deprived part of the capital near the Olympic zone. The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) is set to demolish a large eyesore block of flats, part of the mission to bring new homes and jobs to Canning Town and other Thames Gateway communities.

A Halifax Estate Agents survey out today highlights the severity of the problems that the LTGDC is set to tackle in Canning Town, a place best known for its flyover.

House prices in three areas close to the site of the 2012 Games — Leytonstone (London E11), Hackney (E8) and Clapton (E5) — have risen by more than 15 per cent since the announcement of London’s winning bid in 2005. Stratford (E15), the focal point for Olympic construction activity, is up by 8 per cent. But Canning Town (E16) is down 6 per cent.

In the light of this, it is a reasonable bet that Canning Town residents have not been much preoccupied with either “no-flipping” or “indexation” agreements, which are much on the minds of moneyed house hunters in fast-appreciating bits of the capital. Friend & Falcke, the estate agent, reports that “no-flipping” clauses are appearing in residental sales contracts. These prevent buyers from “turning” or selling on contracts to a third party between exchange and completion. Break the agreement and the vendor is awarded a split of the profits. The indexation agreement, an increasingly popular trend in the £5 million-plus market, also gives the person selling a cut of any increase in value between exchange and completion. While houses for sale in Chelsea and Notting Hill remain in scant supply and money is no problem for eager buyers, the deflation clause is unlikely to become a byword.

Cool, but not stone cold

A SUMMARY of the week’s housing data is as follows: Central London refuses to slow, but elsewhere there are signs of cooling, under pressure from higher interest rates. The figures behind these facts are these: Nationwide’s January survey showed the smallest price increase in eight months, at 0.3 per cent. But, as Kelvin Davidson of Capital Economics points out, even if things continued in this way for the next few months, the annual growth rate would remain at 9 per cent until the second quarter.

Capital Economics forecasts that mortgage approvals for the purchase of homes — a key indicator — will fall to an average of less than 100,000 a month. The dip in the December total — down to 113,000 from 129,000 in November — gives weight to this prediction. Meanwhile, the number of repossessions crept up in the second half of 2006, bringing the total for the year to 17,000 — still less than many had feared. About 19,000 people could lose their homes in 2007. But let’s put that into context: as we told you last week, there were 75,000 repossessions in the slump of 1991.

As we wait to see whether rates are raised again next Thursday, Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s economist, urges us not to exaggerate the effect of upward moves in borrowing costs. In the debate over the direction of rates, it’s easy to forget some of the factors supporting the market, such as low unemployment and the inadequate level of housebuilding.

Rightsize your life

IN PLACE of the oversized, overpriced American home of the week, here is the American property self-help book of the week: Rightsizing Your Life - The Midlife Guide to Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most,by Ciji Ware (Little, Brown £12.99). This is a guide for empty nesters who wish to downsize but cannot move for stuff.

The title and the book itself (279 pages) may be overlong; UK readers who have not reached an American level of self-involvedness may also be puzzled by sections such as Negotiating As A Member Of The Me Generation. But the hints on culling your belongings would be helpful to all hoarders. Everything starts with a grab-and-go list of essential documents that you would need for an emergency getaway.

Ms Ware does not mention that decluttering the home you are leaving might ensure that it achieves a better price, but everyone could probably work that out for themselves.

anne.ashworth@thetimes.co.uk

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