22/12/09-UK house prices have been steadily increasing throughout 2009 owing to lack of supply and the trend is set to continue to the spring of 2010. The predication comes from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
RICs also predicted that the number of property sales is also likely to rise to a monthly average of 70,000 up from the current level of between 55,000 and 60,000.
2010 will feature monetary and fiscal tightening the rise in the top rate of income tax to 50p and the tax on bonuses could adversely affect the market in the capital, while the return of stamp duty on properties worth between £125,000 and £175,000 is most likely to dampen the market in the Midlands, Wales and Scotland.
According to Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, there is evidence that the borrowing climate has not improved, with lending struggling to reach 10 per cent of levels recorded in 2007, according to the Bank of England Credit Conditions Survey. The collapse in the securitisation market and the disappearance of some mortgage lenders “suggests that the picture is unlikely to change very much over the next 12 months”, he believes.
Halifax and Nationwide have said house prices have risen in recent months. Halifax said prices rose 1.4% in November and have risen by 8.5% since the low in April. Nationwide said the average house price rose by more than £700 last month and that prices would end the year significantly higher than at the start.
Meanwhile the prediction comes in contrast to warnings from The National Association of Estate Agents and the Council of Mortgage Lenders who have said that a shortage of first-time buyers might act as a natural brake on the market.
Find UK houses for sale
