Property prices under scrutiny

PROPERTY PRICES UNDER SCRUTINY - Your Mortgage looks ahead to property prices over the next five years Your Mortgage, the independent consumer guide, now publishes house price figures twice yearly to reflect the current volatility in the housing market. The latest figures show all across the country that there will be a slowdown in the increases in house prices over the next five years. Your Mortgage has updated the figures on www.yourmortgage.co.uk so that users can enter the first five digits of their postcode and obtain a localised projection of property prices for the next five years. The figures were exclusively prepared by independent data analysts, Prophit, who use historic property prices from the Land Registry and a range of official Government data, including unemployment, population shifts and interest rate forecasts. In East Anglia and the South East, huge house price increases in the past 18 months will inevitably correct themselves and fall into line with the rest of the South over the period, falling to 30.7% and 32.2% respectively. London remains the powerhouse and will continue to have the highest price increases. On average prices are set to rise by 33.6% in inner London, with Hammersmith & Fulham set to see the highest rise in the country of 39.0%. The South West will maintain house price increases, due to high demand for housing in the area, but low property volumes. House prices are set to increase by 31.6% in the area by the end of 2006. Varying property prices across the country are most apparent in the Midlands where property prices are set to diverge sharply across the region. The East Midlands is expected to follow the pattern of the higher growth enjoyed by southern England with prices rising by a projected 21.0%. Figure 1. Property price growth over the next five years Region Predicted % growth in house prices by the end of 2006 Greater London 33.2% South East 32.2% South West 31.6% East Anglia 30.7% East Midlands 21.0% Yorkshire 15.4% North East 5.7% West Midlands 5.6% North West 3.0% Meanwhile, the West Midlands will continue to experience some of the lowest growth in the country, with prices advancing by just 5.6%. The area with the lowest expected growth in the country is in the North West, where house prices across the region are expected to increase by a lowly 3.0%. Ribble Valley has the lowest projected property price projection in England over five years of 0.75%. Andrew Stuart, editor-in-chief of Your Mortgage, says, "House prices throughout England will continue to rise steadily over the next five years but the North/South divide persists. The South will continue to have the highest increases, whereas the North West, North East and West Midlands are not expected to see much increases at all, although there will be pockets of prosperity." Further information: Andrew Stuart Jason Lloyd/Alistair Neale Editor-in-Chief, Your Mortgage Lansons Communications 020 7404 3123 020 7490 8828 Notes to editors: Sources: The house price predictions were prepared for Your Mortgage magazine by Prophit, a data analysis organisation that specialises in the mortgage and housing sectors. The predictions were based on analysis of data provided by the following sources: Land Registry; Nationwide Building Society; Business Strategy Limited; MOSAIC; Department of the Environment; Transport and the Regions; HM Treasury; Office of National Statistics. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/12/20011012BIT00500/bit0002.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/12/20011012BIT00500/bit0002.pdf