Public still confident about house prices

News Category: Industry News

Four in ten people who are planning to move home believe that buying now makes financial sense as they are confident house prices will rise over the next year.

Altogether, three-quarters of home movers believe that prices will either stay the same or go up.

Rightmove reported this morning from a survey of 20,000 prospective home movers.

But while confidence remains bullish, it has fallen: the 75% who believe prices will stay the same or rise compares with the 84% of price optimists recorded in April.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove commercial director, said: “A 9% drop is a significant shift. However, three-quarters of people still believe that prices will either be the same or higher in 12 months’ time. This suggests that either the government cuts have not yet bitten hard enough to knock the inherent belief in property as a long-term safe bet, or there is a strong sense that the property market’s dark days are behind us.”

He added: “With austerity measures starting to bite, a growing nervousness is to be expected.”

Rightmove itself has just recorded a drop in asking prices and is predicting that further falls in the second half of this year will wipe out gains in the first half.


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