Brits Believe House Prices Won’t Decline Further

Latest report by Rightmove – UK property firm – showed that a surprisingly large number of opinion poll respondents are positive that house prices in Great Britain are set to grow rather than fall. To be more exact, the results of the poll suggest that ¾ or 75% of UK consumers have confidence in UK house prices believing they will not decline any further in 2009. It is highly important to note that the results of the poll are in sharp contrast with the results of an earlier survey, which was carried out by Rightmove in January this year. Let us remind that previous survey demonstrated that 2/3 or 65% of respondents were confident that UK house prices are set to decrease in 2009. Industry professionals of Rightmove believe that such a sharp u-turn in the opinion of customers can be explained by growing consumer confidence in the British housing market. There are, of course, other indicators of the returning consumer confidence. Those include Rightmove’s House Price Index published earlier in summer, which showed an increase in average UK house prices, as well as new price forecasts announced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. However, experts at Rightmove say that the difference between their latest survey and all other reports indicating the return of consumer confidence is its range. The survey reflects the opinion of public at large as it was conducted among a large number of individuals of all age groups living in various parts of Great Britain. Mr. Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, mentioned that the British housing sector is now witnessing “confidence building upon confidence” because public opinion, which is highly positive, is being supported by other encouraging reports. He added, however, that the return of confidence has both, positive and negative, implications. The good news is that consumer confidence will contribute to a faster recovery of the British housing market. The bad news is that house prices will start growing, which, of course, is what some homeowners stuck with borderline equity want, but not what potential house buyers are looking for. It is being said that if house prices start increasing, the significant price uplift might come before mortgage availability improves.