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Consumer confidence springs to new high

A staggering 81% of UK homeowners believe that property prices will continue to rise over the next six months, according to Zoopla.co.uk.

This compares to 30% a year ago, according to the portal’s latest housing market sentiment survey, out today. The survey also reveals that homeowners expect average house prices to increase by 5.7% by autumn, with just 9% of expecting property values to fall over the next six months and a further 10% expecting prices to remain flat. The average growth predicted by those surveyed is for house prices to rise by 5.7% by October.

Buyers are less optimistic, with just one in five claiming that mortgage availability is improving and four out of five (78%) claiming that it is now more difficult to obtain a mortgage than it was three months ago.

But a surge in transactions is unlikely in light of the fact that almost a quarter (23%) of those surveyed stating that they will wait to assess the outcome of the election before making any property-related decisions.

Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.co.uk, says: “With the bad weather behind us and the recent Stamp Duty relief introduced for first-time buyers, confidence in the property market has bounced back well.”

But he adds: “Despite the optimism, significant concerns remain around the supply of mortgages and whilst affordability levels are now higher than at any time in the past few years the lack of mortgage funding, especially for first-time buyers, remains the single biggest threat to a full housing market recovery.”

Zoopla’s survey was conducted between March 15 and 23 with 7,497 respondents, of which 6,877 were homeowners.

 

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