January 7, 2010
Housing Market Confidence Up To Pre-Crunch Highs
The new year is bringing a fresh bout of confidence to Brits as more people think house prices will rise over the first half of the year.
According to Zoopla.co.uk, four out of five UK homeowners believe that property values are set to rise over the first half of 2010. It says this is a marked turnaround from just one year ago when only one in five homeowners was optimistic about the house price outlook.
The average growth predicted amongst those surveyed by the website is for house prices in their area to increase 5.4% over the next six months whilst they expect their own home value to rise by 5.7% over the same period.
Although people think their home will increase in value, 75% of those surveyed claim that it is no easier now to get a mortgage than three months ago, placing the onus on lenders to work to increase confidence and help further lift the transaction volumes.
Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.co.uk, says: “This time last year, confidence in the property market was at rock bottom and the outlook was bleak. But, a year is a long time in the housing market and, whilst the recovery is still in its infancy, optimism is now back to levels not seen since the credit crunch began in 2007.
"The shortage of homes for sale has prevented any improvement in transaction levels over recent months but with increased confidence amongst owners about putting their homes on the market to match the pent-up demand from buyers, we could see a welcome boost to the recovery of the housing market.”
Confidence goes a long way when it comes to the housing market, but it can't actually help you move up the property ladder. If you want to make sure your housing market confidence turns into housing market success, talk to a mortgage adviser about getting hold of the right home loan.
SOURCE: Zoopla.co.uk, 05/01/10
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