Old UK House Prices Forecasts and Predictions from Mortgagesorter UK at 16 2 07

UK House Prices Forecasts and Predictions for Home and Property in the UK at 16th February 2007

UK House Prices Situation: Up 1.3pc in January

UK House Prices Forecast: Growth rate slowing as year progresses

Housing Market May Have Peaked – Latest Figures

The latest figures from the Halifax bank show that house prices rose by an average of 1.3 per cent in January. However, following December's slight fall, this means that the overall year-on-year growth rate has remained constant at 9.9 percent.

While this sounds positive, many industry experts believe that this result, coupled with the fall in mortgage approvals in December, could indicate falling levels of consumer confidence and the beginning of a market slowdown.

Halifax's house price growth forecast for 2007 is 4 per cent, and despite the relative strength of January's figures Halifax's chief economist, Martin Ellis, believes that the combination of below retail price inflation householder earnings and increased interest rates will mean "that annual house price inflation will ease from 10% to 4% by the end of 2007."

Additionally, Ellis commented that the .."mixed pattern of monthly price rises and falls in December and January is consistent with a slowing market."

Reuters Poll Suggests Market Has Peaked

A poll of twenty-five leading economists, conducted by Reuters, suggests that most economists believe the housing market has now peaked. Of the twenty-five surveyed, eighteen agreed that the market had peaked and fifteen economists said that they believed that housing was overvalued, with none believing that it was undervalued.

Belfast Boom Could Continue for 18 Months

Property prices in Northern Ireland have grown rapidly over the last few years, notching up an incredible 36 per cent growth in 2006 alone. Belfast has seen some of the biggest increases, and a leading Belfast estate agent has now predicted that this growth could continue for another 18 months before tailing off.

Ben McQuoid, of McQuoid Property Consultants, is also a RICS spokesman and in a recent interview in with Belfast Today he ascribed much of the continued growth to investors, who are heavily buying into the market to cash in on its rapid growth.

Although ultimately unsustainable, McQuoid expects it to be "another 18 months here until it flattens off, although I don't think the market will go backwards."

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