Hello, welcome to the programme. We are making a transition from an era of ultra-low interest rates,

sometimes really zero, in fact, to one where maybe three or four percent is a norm,

no need to get hung up on the exact level. And there is no piece of our economy,

more affected by this transition than housing. Home buyers, the buy-to-letters, the sellers, the estate agents,

the banks lending money, all are affected as the cost of borrowing changes. So is this a pivotal

moment for the housing market? With everything that is going on, we thought that should be our

question today. How painful will the move to a new interest rate environment be

for those in the business? What does it mean for house prices, mortgages and estate agents?

Now I have three guests with me, an economist, an estate agent, and a mortgage broker,

and if between us we can't make some progress on this topic, then surely no one can.

So first let me introduce our estate agent, Vanessa McCallum, founder and director of Vanessa

McCallum Estates.

It's an independent estate agency based in Hertfordshire.

So just tell us a little about your business, Vanessa.

We are an independent, bespoke online estate agency, specialising in sort of mid to high end properties,

although we cover everything from studio flats to very large homes, predominantly around North

London through to Barnett, Hadleywood, Potter's Bar, Brutman's Park, Cuffley, through to Welling Garden City.

Right. How has business been in the last month or two?

It's definitely altered from a seller's market to a buyer's market very quickly.

And I've been doing this 24 years now.

This is probably the quickest change we've had.

Up until June, everything was going very well.

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