The good times are over for rising house prices
January 7, 2008
According to a number of experts and industry professionals the era of rapidly rising house prices is to come to an end in 2008, with a number of experts giving their views on how house prices are likely to perform over the coming year.
In the space of a decade house prices in the UK have rocketed, rising from an average £70,000 to an average £195,000. Experts are predicting that many homeowners may suffer difficulties when trying to sell their homes, either through asking unrealistic prices or as a result of the plummeting level of first time buyers entering the housing market.
According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors softening house prices in the property market could lead to an increase in the first time buyer market, but the RICS also expects house prices to remain largely unchanged. Officials from RICS state that interest rates are likely to fall to 5% in the first part of the year. The institute also predicts that there will be no sharp fall in house prices. Repossession are likely to rise from 30,000 to 45,000 according to RICS officials, and the buy to let market is also likely to slowdown.
The Halifax predicted that although house prices would remain flat the UK economy and employments levels – key factors in the property market – remained strong.
In response, This is Money officials stated: “Halifax has predicted a flat year for house prices but sung the praises of the UK economy and property market. This seems rather optimistic considering the affordability crisis hitting first-time buyers and homemovers and the huge well of debt Britain’s recent prosperity has been built on. Once again, no change in prices over the year seems unlikely.”
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