Housing market is protected from major fall

Posted: 08 Nov 2007 10:26:26 GMT

The UK housing market is in good health despite some disappointing figures for October.

The UK housing market is in good health despite some disappointing figures for October.

Halifax has published its house price index, showing that month-on-month growth was negative - falling by 0.5 per cent.

However, quarterly inflation reached 0.3 per cent and Halifax says that a number of positive underlying factors are supporting house prices.

High levels of employment, a lack of supply and a strong UK economy are all playing their part in preventing the market from suffering a major correction.

"As long as the economy does not slow sharply, we believe that the downside for house prices is likely to be limited by a lack of supply, supportive demographics, high employment and the fact that few vendors are currently having to sell for "distressed' reasons, so can afford to delay selling in the hope of eventually achieving a price near to what they are looking for," commented Global Insight economist Howard Archer.

"Furthermore, it seems likely that the Bank of England will trim interest rates shortly," he continued.

The Nationwide House Price Index recently put monthly price growth at 1.1 per cent in October.

© Houseladder Ltd