Assetz have done it again. In the company blog they have said that unemployment won't affect house prices.

The government has admitted that private sector unemployment is not going to be as bad as first thought, so "private sector unemployment is not going to affect house prices," they assert in a post on the company blog.

They then go on to explain how the result of the election will decide how many people are left unemployed by government spending cuts, possible putting the total jobless number up to 3.75million.

They don't believe it will be this high, because they say the government will choose other methods of cutting spending, anybody fancy the end of Quangos for example ? Assetz asks.

But even if the government does cut a million jobs, this still won't affect house prices, because private sector recruitment will increase to balance the effect, and also because it won't outweigh the positive effects of significant lack of supply.

Yes, the massive supply shortages are propping up prices, but surely they cannot expect that to keep prices rising forever. What everyone who wants a housing market recovery wants is a massive increase in demand, and in transactions.

For that to happen we need supply to increase so there is a home suitable and affordable for everyone. At any rate if prices keep increasing, and if there is a big increase in demand, more people will be selling their house and this will tip the supply balance. You just cannot have a positive housing market based on what can only be considered a negative keeping price growth positive.

Of course, the biggest negative is the constricted mortgage market, until that changes it is only likely to be weak supply that is capable of pushing prices up.

As we always say, though we love to follow house prices, they really are not all that important. Firstly the national average is very rarely found on any British street or area, and secondly all houses are falling in value so in most cases the money you lose in selling you will gain in buying.

So, why not give it a go while the going's good; sell your house with Zungalow for just £29 per year.

I was interviewed for online property publication Write About Property yesterday, to see whether I thought now was a good time to be selling UK property. The title kinda gives away my answer; Now is the Time to Sell Your House, C'Mon Quick.

I'll tell you what I told them:

If you have a good property in a good area, now is the time to sell, and I mean right now. Short supply is driving up prices and you may even get close to peak value if you can get your property onto the market before supply of like-for-likes increases in your area, before everyone catches on if you like.

So how quickly can you get your property on the market, with Zungalow you can do it in 10 mins. You're thinking, but ah, first you need to get your home information pack. That's true, but Zungalow allows you to put your property on the site to show it off, neither for sale or rent, and for free. Then you will be shopping around not only to find the best price for your HIP, but also the company with the quickest delivery time.

Once you have your HIP, simply pay the £29 up your membership to silver, add pictures and mark your house for sale. Click here to find out how to value your property online for free.

This article that I have just read in The Times is about the best example I've seen so far to show the topsy-turvy world of the current UK housing market.

The article is on how now is the time to sell your house because you stand a good chance of getting a good price, because low-stock levels mean little competition from other sellers. But it is also noted in the article that if supply increases massively it will likely drive prices down yet again.

So if everyone follows the advice of those in the article, then everyone will be knackered for getting a good price. The irony could be that, by printing this article The Times have given the game away.

We have been warning on this blog for many months now, that a rapid increase in supply would be detrimental to the future of UK house prices, and how the currently positive news threatened to make that a reality. However, it does seem that there have been a few shrewd people who have timed it just right in their area and got an extremely good price for their house.

If you do decide to follow the advice of the Times interviewees and check out housing supply and get started about selling your house, Zungalow offers a fantastic property advertising package for just £29 per year. Such a low price perhaps takes the risk out of sticking your toe into the house selling water.

The Little House Company, has unveiled a new paid-for service to allow private property sellers to gain detailed information about a property so that they can reach the best possible valuation.

As people continue to be disappointed with the length of time their property has been on the market for, more and more people are advertising their properties on private property sales sites like Little House and Zungalow, and adding a clause to their estate agents' contract so that they pay no fee if their private efforts sell the property.

Doing this makes their estate agent work harder and also gives them a better chance of selling their property in a timely fashion.

The biggest challenge to a timely house sale is an inaccurate valuation. During high times estate agents have admitted inflating house prices to make more money, and in the current (low times) climate estate agents have been known to inflate valuations to gain instructions.

That said; it is a good idea to conduct your own valuation, even if you have an agent value and then make a judgement based on all the information to hand. This is a good idea whether you plan to sell your house privately or not.

If you do not want to pay for the ability to do your own valuation, here is how you can do it for free:

1. Put your postcode into the Land Registry's index page

   This will tell you how much houses in your area are selling for

2. Use Nationwide's House Price Calculator

   This allows you to enter the value of your house at previous valuations to calculate how much it is worth now.

3. Take the two figures and apply a little common sense to reach your sale price

The Rightmove UK house price index for May 2009 has revealed that asking price rose 2.4%, the biggest increase since 2003, while the number of new properties coming to the market was lower than any May since 2003 at just 61,000.

This is the fourth consecutive monthly rise in asking prices the portal has revealed, and some are viewing it very positively. I however, am not.

The rising asking prices combined with the low in new properties coming to the market shows that vendor realism is still abysmal, and that people are still staying away from selling in a down market.

I will never view Rightmove's index showing a rise in asking prices, until the market has verifiably bottomed some time before.

The first time Rightmove's index shows a fall in asking prices, or at least asking prices levelling out, then I will think that vendor realism is obviously increasing and we will be getting closer to seeing the market bottom.

In the meantime, private sales sites still offer the chance to sell quickly without having to drop as far as the market demands, because they allow you to market to a wider audience, and you can levy the savings on estate agents fees against any reduction in price.

Zungalow.com is a private property sales site with a twist; the social media site of private property sales offers sellers the chance to market their property casually for just £29 per year.

As selling property privately becomes an extremely popular way of selling homes, a new company is launched that could revolutionise the way people sell houses in the UK.

Zungalow.com allows people to advertise their property whether they would like to sell it, are curious to see if anyone would buy it, or simply to show off the interior design on show within the house. All this is possible because a standard package with Zungalow.com is free.

"The free package is limited by comparison to our paid silver and gold packages, but it is perfect for anyone who is curious what kind of interest there would be in their home, before committing on whether or not they are actually going to sell," said Zungalow director Richard McKay.

The standard package allows users to add one property with up to 5 images, and a "system generated" short description.

"Our silver and gold packages allow much better presentation of properties, including video walk-through and much larger descriptions written by the owner (or seller). We therefore recommend these packages to anyone committed to selling their property(ies)," continued Richard.

Zungalow's silver package allows users to add up to 3 properties with up to 10 images, a video walk-through, and written description of up to 1000 characters for £29 per annum.

The Gold package allows 20 properties, each with up to 15 images and a 1500 word description, as well as a video walk-through, for&pound149 per annum.

Though the larger packages can be used by agents, Richard was keen to point out that Zungalow is most definitely focussed on becoming a community based portal for people selling property privately.

"The larger packages are mainly to allow people to show their property off more. Though we won't turn agents away, we hope that Zungalow will become a social community for UK homeowners, and that the community atmosphere will make it a comfortable environment for buying and selling property privately," he said.

About Zungalow

Zungalow is a property community for the UK where members can create their own property profiles using text, photos and video content. Unlike other traditional property websites, there is no obligation to buy, sell or rent to be part of the Zungalow community.

To find out more contact Liam Bailey liam@write-about-property.com

The Zungalow team are pleased to finally go live with our first phase of Zungalow - the UK's property community.  Please join up, create your property profile and have a look around. It's early stages of the project and your feedback is really valuable as to how we develop it. We will be adding more social features to enhance the community aspect of the site and your thoughts on this are most welcome. This is a beta version so there may be bugs and parts of the site that aren't working as they should. The copy also requires some work - if the site and the features aren't apparent or difficult to navigate please let us know by emailing us at info@zungalow.com

Welcome to the Zungalow community!

You can now follow Zungalow on Twitter.

We will initially be tweeting links to any blog updates but hope to eventually use our Twitter account to update on new properties and videos that have been uploaded by the Zungalow community. You can also follow the tweets of one of the Zungalow team, Richard McKay aka @holeinhiseye 

Welcome to the Zungalow blog!

Our main Zungalow site will go live soon(ish) but if you'd like some more information or would like to help us test Zungalow then please visit www.zungalow.com and complete the form. ZungalowZungalow may be of interest if : is a property community where users can create their own schedules using text, photos and video.

• You are a property owner and would like to sell or rent your property (and list for free).
• You are a home owner and would like to showcase your home but not necessarily sell.
• You are searching for a property to buy or rent.
• You have a holiday home that you'd like to advertise.
• You are feeling the pinch and would like to list your property for free.
• You would like to test the market...for free.
• You would like to invite interest without an obligation to sell.
• You are interested in selling FSBO (For sale by owner.)
• You are listed with an estate agent and would like more (free) exposure.
• You have no intention of selling but would like to show off your design talents.
• You'd like to see your house showcased in a Homes or Interiors magazine - instead you can show it to the Zungalow community.
• You're handy with a camcorder! Create your own 'Through the Keyhole' style Video Walkthrough.
• You're a nosey neighbour - explore other homes featured on Zungalow.
• You're interested in making friends within our property community.
• You have a business or commercial property/ properties that you'd like to market.
• You'd like to join our property related Zungalow forum.

We look forward to creating the Zungalow Community with you.