House prices rise as well as concerns
The Government has released figures showing that house prices in the UK rose by 3% last year, increasing the average house price to just over £200,000. In December the prices rose by 0.8%, which was the 8th consecutive increase on the month-by-month basis.
Although the figure is lower that those predicted by some housing societies, it still shows signs that the worse of the recession is over and the UK economy is now on the rise.
The area that saw the biggest increase in 2009 was London with a massive 4.9% increase, while the worse affected area was Northern Ireland with a fall of 6%. But some parties have expressed concearn that it is not just Northern Ireland that will see a fall in prices, as they predict the end of 2010 will see a decline.
The chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, Howard Archer said: House prices seem likely to rise further in the near term giving the ongoing shortage of properties. Even so, we suspect that a modest correction in house prices will occur at some point in 2010 and they will be essentially flat over the year as a whole, assuming that more properties do come on to the market, thereby moving the supply and demand balance away from vendors towards buyers."
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February 19th 2010