House price rises expected by some, despite interest rate concerns

11/06/11
House Prices

A third of people expect house prices to rise according to a new survey by the Halifax.

The Halifax’s survey showed that approximately 32% of those people who took part thought house prices would rise over the next 12 months, 23% thought they would fall and 26% said they would remain roughly the same.

When considering their local area people were even more optimistic with 35% expecting prices rises and just 18% expecting falls.

However most people are not expecting large price movements with 57% expecting the changes to be within the range of 5% falls to 5% rises; only 24% of people expected bigger changes.

About 50% of people thought it would be a good time to buy over the next three months, only 14% thought this not to be the case.

The results of the survey tell a somewhat different story to recent house price reports which have mostly shown small falls in house prices or at the very best continuing stagnation.

It is also interesting to compare the apparent positivity of some people with regard to house prices and the view of household finances generally. The same survey by the Halifax found that 26% of people expected their finances to get worse during the next few months with a further 54% didn’t think they would improve.

It is generally accepted that a rising property market often is accompanied by people feeling secure in their employment, this fact was echoed in the survey where 52% of people said that fear over their job security would stop them buying a house.

The survey also showed people were concerned about the possibility of rising interest rates and finding a large enough deposit to buy a house.
Suren Thiru, housing economist at Halifax, said: “More Britons expect house prices to rise rather than fall over the next year. This is likely to partly reflect the relatively low burden of servicing mortgage debt.

“However, confidence in the UK housing market is likely to remain subdued over the coming months, given consumers’ concerns over the outlook for the UK economy in general, and the jobs market in particular.”