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Less than 25% expect house price growth this year
Just under a quarter of homeowners believe house prices will remain stagnant in 2011, reversing the majority expectation in 2010 that house prices will continue to grow, according to Rightmove.
Rightmove’s consumer confidence survey found that 25% of those who expect house prices to increase cited a rise in the availability in mortgages as the main trigger for growth.
Conversely, the survey found that those predicting lower house prices cited a lack of confidence in the economy (53%) and an increase in available property (30%) as the main reasons for a lack of growth in the market this year.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “An improvement in mortgage finance will help drive a recovery according to a significant number, but the over-supply of property is the most substantial property related factor that will push prices down in the opinion of those who believe that house prices growth will continue to fall.”
Despite the uncertainty around the immediate future for house prices, 60% of respondents said that now is a good time to buy.
Shipside added: “For many, the relatively low cost of borrowing money means it really is a good time to purchase a property, though the shortage of available property in some popular locations, and demanding criteria set by lenders, mean that it is not necessarily an easy time to buy.”
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The survey also revealed that a third of the 28,000 respondents believe their house will lose value in 2011, while 38% think it will stay broadly flat.