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Nearly a third of people think that house prices in the UK will rise in the next 12 months – more than those who think prices will fall. Research by the Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker has found that 29% of Brits think house prices will go up this year, compared to the 22% who predict a fall. This is an improvement from the last piece of research carried out by Halifax, which found that more people felt there would be a decline in prices rather than a rise. When the last survey was carried out, in October last year, 28% expected a rise in house prices while 30% expected a fall. “The modest improvement in consumer confidence in the outlook for house prices reflects the resilience of the UK housing market over recent months in the face of a weak economic recovery and the deterioration in the outlook for both the UK and global economies,” said Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax. But despite the change in consumer confidence, the outlook is still subdued. The research found that the majority of people expect a just small amount of house price movement. Around two thirds said that they expect any price movement to be between +5% and -5%. “Looking forward, we currently expect broad stability in house prices in 2012, although there remains much ambiguity around this given the considerable uncertainty regarding the prospects for the UK economy,” added Mr Ellis. As well as consumer confidence, the research also revealed Brits’ attitudes towards buying a home. More than half said that job security and the difficulty in raising a mortgage deposit were the main obstacles to buying a home. Other barriers to buying a home included household finances, with 33% identifying this as a problem, and the general availability mortgage. If you are currently trying to get on the property ladder, you can compare mortgages with Money Expert.
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