Estate Agents and homeowners retain housing market optimism

Abbey Mortgages has been gathering the views of estate agents and homeowners on the duration of the current decline in UK house prices.

In a survey of 100 estate agents, 61% said they were confident that house prices will stop falling within 12 months.

Furthermore, 30% of this group believe that UK property prices will have stabilised by the beginning of 2008.

The homeowners surveyed were also optimistic with the majority expecting prices to have stabilised in seven months’ time and 7% of those questioned admitting to having plans to profit from the market downturn in the meantime.

Abbey Mortgages’ director, Phil Cliff, comments that the survey shows a light at the end of the tunnel but suggests that estate agents and homeowners are bracing themselves for further falls in the very near future.

Some may question the level of optimism revealed by the survey on the grounds that estate agents and homeowners are unlikely to be objective about the future of the UK residential property market.

However, latest figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government put annual house price inflation at 4.9% in April.

The Government figures contradict data from leading mortgage lenders, with Halifax and Nationwide reporting annual house price falls of 3.8% and 4.4% respectively.

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