House prices expected to rise
10th Feb 2012
A significant proportion of UK homeowners expect house prices to rise in the UK this year, according to the latest Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker.
It shows that nearly a third (29 per cent) of Britons think that house prices will rise rather than fall in 2012, compared with 22 per cent who predict a price decline over the same period.
As a result, the headline House Price Outlook balance, which indicates that more people expect house prices to rise rather than fall, has moved into positive territory, with an overall balance score of +7 percentage points.
This which represents a marked improvement compared with the negative reading of -2 recorded in October's survey.
Overall, eight of the 11 UK regions recorded a positive headline House Price Outlook balance, contrasting sharply with October's tracker when just three regions had a positive headline balance.
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said that the modest improvement in consumer confidence reflects the resilience of the UK housing market over recent months in the face of a weak economic recovery.
"Looking forward, we currently expect broad stability in house prices in 2012, although there remains much ambiguity around this given the considerable uncertainty regarding the prospects for the UK economy," he added.
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