Confidence boost for housing market
Expectations for house price increases in 2010 have risen considerably, according to new statistics, and that could prompt an upsurge in selling activity as market confidence increases.
That's the view of Newcastle-under-Lyme estate agency Heywoods in response to the latest monthly survey by the Worldwide Property Group, which revealed that a staggering 68% of respondents thought house prices would increase in the coming year, up from 57% in November.
The research also found that as many as one in five of those questioned believed the increases could be as high as 10%.
It also revealed other pointers to growing UK confidence in house prices, with 85% believing that now was a good time to buy and 69% saying that they were enjoying lower mortgage repayments as result a of the current low interest rates.
Heywoods said that nothing could be taken for granted in an unpredictable housing market and the prevailing economic climate.
The company warned that higher market expectation was one thing and materialising house price growth was another.
But the most important point to note, it concluded, was that the housing market had always been strongly confidence driven. So given that many so people now saw it as a good time to buy, Heywoods said that at the very least it would expect market activity to pick up in the coming year.