Assetz® News » HOME | RSS Feed FEED | LIST ALL ARTICLES | ASSETZ HOMEPAGE
Investment Property News from Assetz

Assetz® Property News Service

House prices rise again

17th February 2006 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

Confirmation that the UK housing market has returned to excellent health has come in the form of the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

In the three months to January, house prices rose for the third period in succession and this has provided yet more encouragement to those looking to make gains on property investment this year.

After the tricky summer months during which interest in the property market slumped, the pick-up in confidence has been remarkable and investors are now expecting considerable returns on their projects. After the Bank of England cut interest rates in August, the entire property market received a boost - the effects of which seem to be escalating by the month.

The most positive aspect of this is that the number of people buying a home generally rises by around 80 per cent between January and March and so an acceleration in house price rises is expected before the summer.

Another sign of increased market confidence came in the rising number of people making enquiries about property.

This figure has now increased for eight consecutive months, which represents the longest period of sustained increases since Rics began its survey back in 1978.

Crucially, the rising enquiries corresponded with an increase in completed sales in January, which is not always the case. A less pronounced rise in confidence can sometimes only translate into a culture of browsing, but the number of completed transactions in January was 15 per cent higher than it was a year earlier.

In all, the number of surveyors reporting rising house prices was nine per cent higher than the number seeing prices falling in the three months to January. Ian Perry, a spokesperson for Rics, has reflected that conditions are now particularly healthy for sellers.

"After months of struggling, the housing market is picking up," said Mr Perry.

"The current dynamics are favourable to sellers as the amount of property available to buyers remains limited," he added.

"Reasonably priced properties are selling well. December and January are traditionally quiet months so the spring, when more people look to move, appears promising."

The Rics report also found that the number of properties coming onto the market edged up in January while overall consumer confidence was up from the previous month.

The assessment matches that of propertyfinder.com, which announced this week that 1.1 million Britons were looking for a property last month. An increase of 30 per cent since August 2005, it clearly indicates that the market has enjoyed an astonishing turnaround in the last few months, while a continuation of the trend is generally anticipated for the remainder of the year.

Assetz® is a UK and International Property Investment Specialist. Please visit our property sites shown below.

Assetz for Investors UK Assetz Hotels Assetz Homes Assetz International Assetz France Assetz Spain Assetz Cyprus Assetz Germany Assetz Portugal Assetz Ski Assetz Cape Verde Assetz USA Assetz Finance Assetz Fund Management

Accessing the news service

You can view all of the Assetz® UK, International and UK Property Investment Articles and News here.

We also provide an RSS Feed Feed of the news service, or you can view all articles. Click here to view more information on RSS readers and how they make reading online news more convenient.

eXTReMe Tracker