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House price falls attract new buyers

Monday, 2 March 2009 10:00 AM

House prices continued to fall in February, but new buyer registration was up by 17 per cent, with the strongest buyer demand in southern England.

According to the Hometrack National Housing Survey, house prices continued to fall by an average of 0.8 per cent, bringing the average fall over the last year to ten per cent.

The results, released today, show the levels of buyer registration, sales agreed and new instructions were all up for February, with sales agreed increasing by over a third.

The strongest buyer demand was in London, where an increase of 20 per cent was seen. However, Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research, has warned the latest results by no means indicate a recovery in the housing market.

He said: "While the percentage increase in activity may appear relatively high, the underlying transaction levels of market activity are around 60 per cent lower than they were a year ago.

"As such this increase in market activity is off a very low base and falls well short of what could be classified as 'green shoots' of recovery.

"The majority of buyers are still very cautious. Unrealistic pricing is still a major barrier to sales and offers continue to come in well below the asking price."

The survey also indicated how sellers are beginning to achieve more realistic asking prices, as well as seeing the time taken to sell property steady at 12 weeks.

But Mr Donnell added: "It would be dangerous to read too much into reports of improved buyer activity at present as a broad based recovery in the housing market will require a major turnaround in consumer confidence which is still some way off yet."

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