Housing market 'aided by forced seller absence'

Posted: 22 Sep 2011 16:50:59 GMT

The housing market performed better than expected during the recession, it has been claimed.

A distinct absence of forced sellers has helped the UK housing market stay on its feet through a difficult spell, it has been suggested.

David Smith, economics editor at the Sunday Times, noted the shortage of people needing to offload their property has prevented the sector falling further than it already has, with the field performing better than many people expected.

The industry figure pointed to the lack of repossessions as evidence for this trend, even though house prices dipped as a result of the recession.

He observed: "Because unemployment rose by less than people expected, we haven't had the phenomenon of the early 1990s when people had to sell because they had been made unemployed."

This kind of movement - which also saw many individuals struggling to keep up with repayments - has not been seen on the same scale this time around, Mr Smith added.

His comments came after the Financial Services Authority released figures showing new arrears cases dipped annually by four per cent in the second quarter of this year.
 

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