Britons anticipating rise in house prices in 2012
Posted by Sue Hopson
The cost of buy-to-let properties could be set to rise in the coming 12 months, with more Britons predicting a rise in house prices than a decline.
That is according to the third Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker, which currently monitors public sentiment towards the UK housing market.
The January edition of this survey, which was conducted by Ipsos Mori on behalf of Halifax, found that 29 per cent of Britons expected house prices to rise in the UK over the next month.
In comparison, just 22 per cent predicted that house prices would decline over the coming year, equating to a House Price Outlook of +7 percentage points.
The news is a welcome boost to the UK property investment market with the previous October's survey registering a negative reading of -2 with 30 per cent expecting a fall.
In total, eight of the eleven UK regions tracked recorded a positive headline House Price Outlook balance this month, in comparison with just three regions seen in October.
Those with investment property in London will be boosted by the latest readings too with the public optimism for the outlook of the housing market in the capital representing the highest in the UK with a net balance of +21.
East Midlands was the next most optimistic region for housing price rises with a reading of +18 while Yorkshire and Humber was at +14.
Despite the positive outlook for property price rises in these regions, others remained more negative with the north-east registering a -3 reading.
Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis noted that the results represented largely positive news for property owners.
"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," he said.
"Looking forward, we currently expect broad stability in house prices in 2012."
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