Housing Market Hopes At A Two-Year Low

Confidence in the housing market is at a two-year low, according to property website Zoopla.co.uk.

People are worried about Government spending cuts and the ongoing problems in the mortgage market, its poll revealed.

Only 54% of homeowners think house prices will rise in the next six months, down from 63% three months ago.

The figure is a huge drop on the 81% which, this time last year, thought the market would rise.

The poll of more than 5,000 homeowners found the majority believed the market would rise by just under 2% over the next months, but 33% think it will fall.

Homeowners see few signs that the current mortgage shortage is improving, with only 8% of those questioned saying they think it is now easier to get a home loan than it was three months ago, while nine out of 10 said they had seen no improvement in mortgage availability.

"The uncertainty around the impact on the overall economy in 2011 of the austerity measures and the continuing drought in mortgage finance availability created a toxic combination for housing market confidence in late 2010, said Zoopla's Nicholas Leeming.

"There is every reason to expect confidence to grow as this year progresses, providing the economic outlook doesn't worsen and banks start to loosen their lending criteria."

People were most confident in Scotland, with 63% of homeowners expecting house prices to rise during the coming six months, compared with 42% in Northern Ireland.

Source - Yahoo.