House prices set for a rise
SIGNS of a tentative economic recovery have given a boost to consumers’ confidence in the housing market, a survey from property website Rightmove has shown.
Rightmove said yesterday that 56 per cent of consumers now expect average house prices to be higher in 12 months time, marking a sharp upturn in confidence since January, when 69 per cent expected prices to fall over the year.
Only a tenth of consumers are anticipating a fall in prices over the next year.
However, Rightmove warned that constrictions on supply were likely to continue into the new year, with only five per cent of respondents to the survey believing the current climate is a good time to sell houses.
“The lack of new sellers coming to market should ease to a degree in the latter part of next year,” said Rightmove’s commercial director Miles Shipside. “However, it falls short of a resounding vote of confidence with a significant proportion feeling that the challenging conditions sellers are currently facing will remain unchanged for some time yet.”
The traditional north/south house price divide continues to prevail, the group said, with 12 per cent more respondents in the north feeling it is a bad time to sell, reflecting higher demand and lower levels of stock in the more affluent region of London and the south.
The latest survey came just days after data from Rightmove’s monthly house price index revealed asking prices for homes in England and Wales are likely to see three months of price falls as sellers postpone moving until after Christmas.
The firm said the 1.6 per cent monthly fall in November was a sign that, although the battered housing market has recovered from the depths of the credit crunch in 2008, the recovery does not yet have the strength to buck seasonal trends.