Buyers ‘expecting house prices to rise’

Posted 12/06/2011

Many Brits may feel the need to employ a residential conveyancing solicitor and purchase a home in the near future, as a new survey has found people are expecting house prices to rise through the rest of the year.

This is according to the latest Housing Market Confidence Tracker from Halifax, which found one in three respondents are predicting an increase in 2011, compared with 23 per cent who think costs will fall.

The state of the housing market has led 50 per cent of individuals to believe that the sector is currently advantageous to buyers, with just 14 per cent stating that conditions are favouring sellers.

However, most people are not expecting to see a major shift in house prices in either direction, with 57 per cent thinking any gains or falls will be less than five per cent for the remainder of 2011.

Housing economist at Halifax Suren Thiru commented that confidence is likely to remain fairly subdued due to wider concerns over the country’s economic performance.

Recently, Nationwide’s monthly house price survey for May revealed a slight rise of 0.3 per cent in the cost of buying a residential property when compared with figures from April.

Individuals looking to make the process of buying a house as stress-free as possible should contact the residential conveyancing team at Ashtons Legal for expert advice from our experienced staff.