House price expectations cool for 2015
The first wave of the Halifax Housing Market Confidence Tracker in 2015 shows three in five Britons (60%) expect the average UK property price to rise this year, down from 67% who said this in December 2014.
This compares to 8% who expect the average price to fall, leaving the headline House Price Outlook balance (HPO – the proportion of people that expect the average house price to rise in the next 12 months less those who think it will fall) at +52.
This is ten points lower than the equivalent figure one month previously (HPO was +62 in December 2014), but up from eighteen months ago where it stood at +40, in June 2013.
Since last month there has been a small drop in the proportion who think it will be a good time to sell in the next 12 months, from 55% who said this in December 2014, to 52%. Meanwhile there has been no impact on buying sentiment, which has remained stable since November 2014: 56% of the public who consider the next 12 months a good time to buy a property.
Other findings include:
- Buying sentiment is more positive in Scotland where 68% think the next 12 months will be a good time to buy property, Wales (74%) and North England (64%), compared to 56% of Britons overall.
- People in Scotland and North England are significantly less likely than Britons overall to say it will be a good time to sell (41% and 44% compared to 52%, respectively).
- Two in five (38%) think it will be both a good time to buy and sell over the next 12 months, in line with results from the previous two monthly waves of the survey when this figure stood at 39%.
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Technical note
Ipsos interviewed 1,000 British adults aged 16+ face-to-face, between 16-26 January 2015. Data has been weighted to the known population profile.
