Insurance News Archive

Confidence in UK house prices very low

With house price growth recently shown to be at its lowest level so far this year, consumers have little confidence in the market, according to a new survey.

Research by propertyfinder.com shows that just five per cent of people expected house prices to rise in June - down one per cent on May's figures.

"The May rate rise has had an immediate impact on homebuyer confidence and fears of more to come are dampening expectations for house prices," said Warren Bright, chief executive of propertyfinder.com.

"We would expect future price growth to moderate in line with current confidence levels."

He added that more interest rate rises could be on the cards after the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, suggested they are likely to be on the way.

However, people do not expect house prices to fall, just slow down in growth compared to the strong performance the country's property market has enjoyed in recent years.

Areas which have most confidence in continued good results include the traditionally strong London, the south-east and current high-performers Scotland and Northern Ireland.

15 Jun 2007