Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker: Q1 2014

The latest Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker finds 71% of the public expecting the average UK house price to rise in the next 12 months (6% expect it to fall), showing little change from where this figure stood at 72% last quarter. HPO, the headline House Price Outlook balance (i.e. the proportion of people that expect the average house price to rise in the next 12 months less those who think it will fall), has stabilized at +65, after a continuous upward trend between September 2012 (when it stood at +15) and December 2013 (+66). Other findings include:

• Among owner-occupiers HPO is +69 (74% versus 5%).
• Regionally, HPO is +75 in London, compared to +39 in Scotland.
• 56% think the next 12 months will be a good time to sell, an increase of four percentage points since December 2013 and continuing an upward trend in positive selling sentiment since September 2012. It does though remain lower than the 60% who think it will be a good time to buy.
• Just over four in ten (42%) think it will be both a good time to buy and sell over the next 12 months, the highest figure seen on this measure since the survey’s inception in April 2011.
• Being able to raise enough deposit continues to be the most commonly identified main barrier to property purchase (60% say this), while 51% cite job security as a barrier. 
• The majority of the public, and private renters, expect private rents to rise in 2014 – 69% and 61%, respectively.

Downloads

• Download the Infographic (PDF)
• Download the charts (PDF)
• Download the computer tables (PDF)

Technical Note

Interviewing took place with 1,959 British adults aged 16+ face-to-face between 14-24 March 2014. Data has been weighted to the known population profile.