House Prices Will Boom - Daily Express still in Denial or Stupid

HOUSE PRICES WILL BOOM

(THANKS TO THE CREDIT CRUNCH)

Property prices are set to soar within the next four years as demand outstrips supply, it was predicted yesterday. The credit crunch will lead to a virtual stop to house building, which in turn will create a shortage – and this could fuel a 30 per cent rise :rotfl:in prices between 2010 and 2012.

By 2012, the price of an average house price will have spiralled to £226,000.

House prices are expected to fall by eight per cent this year and four per cent next, but then recover sharply.:rotfl:

The prediction follows the publication of a dossier by the respected:question: Centre for Economic and Business Research.

CEBR’s quarterly consumer and housing prospects report estimates that house completions will fall by a fifth this year and by 10 per cent next year as builders hit by the property market slowdown put the brakes on construction.

Activity in the nation’s construction industry fell last month to its lowest level for at least 11 years.

Property experts were delighted by the report, saying it now provided some hope for home owners battered by high interest rates, rising bills and a lack of lending in the credit crunch.

David Newnes, managing director of Your Move estate agents, said: “This is the first good news for home owners that we’ve heard in months.

“There is a shortage of homes in the UK, a burgeoning population and not enough new homes are being built, so the laws of supply and demand mean house prices are sure to pick up in a year or so.”

Seamus Kavanagh, of estate agents Townends Regents, said:

“For home owners this should give them the confidence that what we are experiencing should be short-lived.

“For anyone currently moving or thinking of moving, they are likely to benefit from the positive price re-adjustment going back the other way – that is, upwards.”

Peter Bolton King, of the National Association of Estate Agents, said: “Today’s report certainly gives consumers confidence that the market will bounce back after a prolonged period of pain.”

Keith McNeilly, of the property website Moveme.com, said: “Confidence will be restored and those who can sit tight over the short term will reap the benefits.”

Ross Bowen, managing director of Connells Survey & Valuation, said: “With supply diminishing fast as household numbers grow and builders mothball developments, prices will inevitably go up again. “The return to health is likely to be quite sharp when it comes.”

The CEBR forecasts prices will start to recover next year if the Bank of England cuts interest rates, as expected in 2009.

The number of house-building completions totalled 175,000 in England last year, but the CEBR forecasts a fall to 134,000 next year.

That is far below the Government’s target for 185,000 a year – or two million additional homes between 2006 and 2016.

Barratt, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, three of England’s biggest house-builders, have shed thousands of jobs and share prices have plummeted as house sales have fallen away.

For anyone currently moving or thinking of moving, they are likely to benefit from the positive price re-adjustment going back the other way – that is, upwards Seamus Kavanagh, of estate agents Townends Regents:rotfl:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/55452/House-prices-will-boom-thanks-to-the-credit-crunch-