More than half of British homeowners think the value of their current home will increase within the next 12 months, an increase of 17% from last year’s survey results.
Location, understandably, is the most important factor when buying a property. A total of 36 percent of people buying a property within the next three years would be least likely to compromise on location. This rises to 47 percent among 35-44 year olds compared with just 26 percent of 18-24 year olds.
Just under one in five (18 percent) of British adults are currently prevented from buying a property or moving home because they are unable to afford a deposit, a decrease of 5 percent from November 2012’s survey results.
With housing transactions recovering and house prices expected to increase by 5 percent in 2014, Countrywide plc, the U.K.’s largest integrated property services group, conducted a third exclusive research study with YouGov to investigate important factors affecting the current housing market.
Countrywide’s commissioned research surveyed more than 2,000 British adults, including private rental tenants, homeowners with mortgages, shared equity stakeholders, owner occupiers and those living rent-free. The findings identified improved consumer confidence in the housing market when compared to the results of the last study.
Highlights from the latest research include:
House Prices:
- In every region, more people think house prices will increase than decrease over the next 12 months. Expectation of rising prices has grown most quickly in the East of England (29 percent in 2013 compared to 61 percent in 2014) and the North East (19 percent in 2013 compared to 44 percent in 2014).
- A higher proportion (67 percent) of homeowners living in London, expect the value of their home will increase in 12 month, when compared to any other region in Great Britaian.
The Rental Sector:
- Private renters are more willing to compromise than homeowners when looking for their next property. A total of 10 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are unwilling to compromise on any aspect of the property compared with just 6 percent of private renters.
Grenville Turner, Chief Executive of Countrywide plc, said: “The findings reaffirm what our property experts’ view on a daily basis when dealing with many people looking to move home. There are signs of a rebalance in the housing market as recovery in housing volumes gathers momentum.
“It is encouraging to see that consumers are more enthused by the current housing market conditions, and 51 percent of homeowners think that the value of their home will increase in 12 months.
“We expect to see more first time buyers and homeowners enter the housing market in 2014, as the property market and wider economic conditions show further signs of improvement, and these results would back up that view.”
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
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