UK households are predicting the property market to remain strong, with stable house price growth in the coming months.
The latest House Price Sentiment Index carried out by Knight Frank and Markit reports that in all regions covered households perceived house prices have increased this month.
For the fifth consecutive month, households in the South East expect prices to rise most strongly over the next 12 months
Of those responding to the survey, some 6.2% said they were planning to buy a property in the next year.
Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank said that there has been a positive boost in housing market activity due to better than expected economic growth and the continued delay of interest rate rises.
“The jump in price expectations in London may be due to a moving away from the idea of a ‘mansion tax’ by the Liberal Democrats in favour of a reform to council tax. Yet, despite the rise in expectations in London, households in the South East still expect larger increases in the value of their homes over the next 12 months, reversing the trend seen during most of last two years,” she added.
A strong labour market and ever-improving economic conditions will continue to support the UK’s housing market, according to Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit.
He said that a repeat of last winter’s breakneck acceleration in house price growth is unlikely, as prices look set to remain stable as we see out 2014.