A slice of sense for 2005 property market?

Already the signs are that buyers are taking on lower mortgages, stretching themselves less and making lower offers, according to the latest research from property websites assertahome.com and propertyfinder.com.

Thursday, January 6th 2005, 5:38PM

by The Landlord

After hitting a low point in November, confidence in the housing market recovered slightly in December. 65.8% of respondents expect house prices to fall in 2005, compared to 72% in November. 30% now expect house prices to rise, compared to 24% in November.

Overall, househunters expect national prices to drop 8% in the coming year, whereas in November, expectations were for falls close to 10%. All regions expect prices to drop, even northern regions and Scotland, which have been consistently the most optimistic. East Anglians remain the most pessimistic, expecting prices to end 2005 11.9% lower, with Londoners close behind at -9%.

This modest recovery in confidence is supported by increased buyer interest on the propertyfinder and assertahome websites. Requests from buyers for property details have shown a marked growth since November rising 8% month on month.

In January 2004, only 9% of househunters expected prices to fall for the year and overall, respondents forecasted an increase of 7.2%. For 2004 the differing indices reported that house prices rose between 1.1% and 13%, so househunters expectations were remarkably accurate, falling midway between the two extremes.

Jim Buckle, managing director of assertahome and propertyfinder.com said: ‘After months of growing pessimism on the outlook for the market, house buyers and sellers ended the year on a slightly more optimistic note. Respondents still expect prices to fall, but are more sanguine than of late. It is too early to say whether this is the start of a new trend or merely a waft of seasonal good cheer. But increased activity on our websites does support the survey’s findings. We survey people at the coalface of the housing market looking for homes and buying and selling property. They have proved very reliable at spotting trends over the last year, even before they turn up in official figures.’

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