House Prices Fall Less Aggressively

Tuesday 31 March 2009

Although house prices have fallen 0.6% in March, this is considered to be the lowest monthly decrease in house prices during the last 10 months. Given that overall house prices have fallen 10.3% over the last year, March decrease of 0.6% looks promising. The slightly growing number of agreed sales brings some optimism to the property market and to the mind of estate agents. Although market conditions and overall economic situation in the UK and all over the world are still tough, the fact that estate agents are marking down house prices less actively suggests that the situation on the UK property market has improved since autumn. However, experts are concerned that it might reverse in the near future, as house prices are closely associated with consumer confidence, mortgage lending recovery and economic stability. The changes in the market have been characterized by 2 key factors such as the time properties remain on the market and the asking price. The time properties remain on the market has dropped from 12 weeks in February to 11.3 weeks. The proportion of the asking prices has increased for the first time in 2 years from 88.3% to 88.8%. The survey also revealed a 19% increase in agreed sales and an 8.5% increase in the number of registrations of new buyers. Experts see the increase on the market as seasonal and do not believe that it will continue into upcoming months as unemployment and weak economic stability will remain.