April 2011
Featured in this insight: Financial services
Confidence rising in UK housing market: A survey by Zoopla.co.uk has revealed that 59% of UK homeowners expect housing prices to rise, leading to an optimistic increase in planned home improvements this year.
This figure is an improvement compared to the end of last year, when 54% of homeowners said they expected house prices to rise. Both recent research figures are still a marked drop however from the 81% who expected prices to rise one year ago.
Nicholas Leeming at Zoopla.co.uk commented: "After almost 9 months of falling confidence and falling house prices, it looks like the property market is now starting to turn a corner. Falling prices have created attractive buying opportunities and with continued low inventory of property on the market, homeowners are increasingly expecting prices to rise in their local area.”
This improved confidence in the property market’s future as well as the arrival of spring has seen a rise in those planning to carry out home improvements to 40% of all households.
Homeowners also felt more confident about the potential increase in value of their homes compared to those of their neighbours, with an average prediction of a 3.2% growth for their own property compared to a general rise in their neighbourhood area of only 2.8%.
View more of our sector specific insights: Financial services
