Here’s an interesting headline reported at Propertytalk live:
“More Brits expect house prices to rise than fall over the coming twelve months, according to the latest quarterly Halifax Housing Market Confidence tracker.
Just over a third (34%) forecast that the average UK house price will rise over the next year, whilst almost a fifth of respondents (19%) predict a decline in prices over the same period.”
However, dig a little deeper and you’ll find that this was Halifax view:
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, commented:
“Confidence in the housing market has weakened a little over the last three months, reflecting the increased uncertainty regarding the economic outlook. The public’s confidence in the housing market, however, has been very resilient so far this year. This is, consistent with the broad house price stability experienced over the first half of 2012.
“Overall, we expect little change in prices and sales over the remainder of the year provided that the UK’s economic outlook does not deteriorate significantly.””
So, the scary headline was all about public confidence – which is important of course. But the property professionals don’t share that view. We’ll see who is right over time, but personally I’d take more notice of the professionals’ view.
What do you think?
Del Brown – Property Options
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