Households believe property values have fallen for 24 months

Friday 22nd June 2012

Householders believe the value of their property has fallen again this month, with a solid decline every month for the last two years.

Only in London did residents say that house prices had gone up. In Wales and the North-East, confidence was much lower.

According to today’s Knight Frank Markit house price confidence index, 15% of a total of 1,500 households questioned think the value of their property depreciated this month, against 7.6% who felt their homes had risen in value.

However, 30% of households anticipate a rise in the value of their home over the next 12 months, compared with 24% expecting a decline. Londoners once again are easily the most upbeat, with 60% of them forecasting rises. By contrast, households in the North-East and South-West are preparing for declines.

By occupation, rather than region, people working in the media, culture and entertainment sector are the most confident, while the weakest sentiment is among those in the retail sector.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: “Households are downbeat about the current value of their properties but expect values to rise over the coming year, suggesting an overall air of modest optimism continues to prevail despite the growing raft of disappointing economic headlines.

“However, optimism is largely confined to the south of England, notably London.”