With the housing market rebounding, housing prices have seen a rise of almost 10 per cent.
The housing market?s sharp turnaround led to prices rising by 9.9 per cent in the year to January, despite many seeing a bleak outlook at the beginning of the recession.
The Daily Telegraph was told by Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, that the average value of a home went up to ?169,777, an increase of 0.6 per cent on the previous month.
Martin Ellis, Halifax?s housing economist, said: ?The marked reduction in interest rates over the past 15 months has, from a low base, boosted housing demand from those with a sufficient deposit to enter the market. Increased demand has combined with a low supply of properties available for sale to push up prices.?
Despite the good news, there was some reasoning, from the Halifax and property commentators, that the recovery in house prices would not be sustained.
Mr Ellis explained: ?There are some signs that more people are putting their homes on the market. A further increase in the supply of property is possible over the coming months, which would help to curb upward pressure on prices. Overall, our current view is that house prices will be flat during 2010.?
The Daily Telegraph also spoke to Seema Shah, a property economist at Global Economics who said: ?With the economic recovery likely to be too weak to prevent further job losses and household incomes set to come under further downward pressure as fiscal policy is tightened, a second leg to the house price correction is looming.?
