Property slowdown due to 'people not needing to move'

Posted: 22 Dec 2009 09:43:03 GMT

The national slowdown of the property market that has been seen over the past year is due to homeowners not needing to move, according to one expert.

Richard Donnell, director of Hometrack, says that in the past ten years there has been a large amount of what he describes as discretionary moves - people who do not need to move but have done anyway because of their confidence in the housing market.

"Credit was available and because people could afford to have a nicer, bigger home, they do so," he states.

However, thanks to the global economic slowdown people are no longer moving if they do not need to.

According to Mr Donnell, around half of all homebuyers are "discretionary movers" while the other half accounts for people who have to move because of needs-based reasons such as jobs, divorce or family.

Recent research from Abbey Mortgages backed up the housing expert's claims, revealing that one in three homebuyers (217,600) moved house to work their way up the property ladder.

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