Housing market 'not out of the woods yet'

Thursday 6th August 2009

House prices will improve this year but could face further challenges next year, surveyors say.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) have revised its previous housing market update, saying today it no longer expects house prices to fall ten per cent this year.

Rics now says house prices at the end of 2009 could be "slightly higher" than 2008.

However, the institution warned the prediction change did not indicate a return to the booming housing market of previous years, as the market was still beleaguered and weak compared to historical standards.

Rics senior economist Brigid O'Leary said: "There has been a clear change in the housing market over the past few months and, as a result, it is unlikely that we will now see the kind of house price falls widely predicted at the start of the year.

"Instead, the return of buyer demand and the limited availability of housing on the market could be enough to support prices so it wouldn't be surprising to actually see prices increase further from here in the short term."

The market update indicated housing still had a long way to go, especially in the wake of rising unemployment and a weakening economy.

Rics also pointed to the low supply of housing at the moment as a future problem, saying, "The lack of new housebuilding, which was already a major cause for alarm, has been exacerbated by the recession – housing completions in England could come in at around 75,000 this year.

"Failing to address this issue will add significantly to affordability pressures in the future".

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) also released figures today, saying estate agents were selling more properties on average.

The market report revealed the number of new house hunters is increasing, with 100 more people registering to look for property with each agent than at the same time last year. On average, an agent had 292 house hunters registered in July, compared to 192 in July 2008 and 290 in June 2009.

However, supply of houses remains low.

President of the NAEA, Gary Smith, said: "Estate agents expect a drop in activity over the summer months, but there is no doubt that the market is in a considerably stronger position than a year ago.

"Agents sold more in July than in any month last year. That is concrete evidence that the housing market, while not recovered, has potentially been through the worst."

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