IMLA's outlook on house prices

The Intermediary Mortgages Lenders Association (IMLA) claims to have taken a realistic look at the UK housing market in a bid to make an accurate forecast of how things will develop in 2008.

[UKPRwire, Tue Nov 13 2007] It has looked at the predictions made by a number of organisations in order to attempt to clear up some of the confusion which is currently present in the market.

The highest prediction for growth so far has come from Knight Frank, with the firm anticipating that price growth will reach three per cent.

Many others, such as Capital Economics (minus three per cent), have been far lower, but the IMLA points out that anything below three per cent growth will in fact amount to a price fall in real terms.

"We can see that even the most upbeat commentator expects prices to rise by no more than three per cent on average, broadly in line with inflation – so at best prices would be virtually flat in real terms," said Peter Williams, executive director of the IMLA.

"Other opinions suggest that we may see a fall in real property values, ie, that is taking inflation into account as well.

The fact remains that house price inflation will, as always, be uneven across the country, so though we can expect properties in good locations still to increase in value (both actual and real terms) there may be localised falls," he added.

Fast property sale expert Julian King adds, "Price is not the only cosnderation when selling a property. For many the time it takes to sell is a major factor.

"As the UK's leading fast property purchase company, National Homebuyers transacts with hundreds of people each month who need a quick sale of their home because the 'open market' does not afford them the luxury of time.

"There will always be people who need to sell property quick. With a further rise in possession orders predicted, one would expect that the time versus money issue to become more and more important to more and more people".

National Homebuyers are the UK's largest quick property sale firm, guaranteeing to make an offer to purchase any property surveyed for vendors who need a quick property sale.

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