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Home sales set to fall to lowest for 40 years

Monday, 28 November 2011 8:59 AM

This year is set to see the lowest housing turnover for 40 years and the trend is set to continue in 2012, according to Hometrack.

The property analytics company expects sales of just 840,000 homes in 2011, almost 50 per cent lower than in 2007 and the equivalent of the average private sector home changing hands only once every 26 years.

However, Hometrack said a combination of the low turnover and realism over pricing was supporting the market.

Its latest housing market survey published this morning showed prices down 0.2 per cent in November but a reduction in supply coming on to the market is counter-balancing a fall in demand.

Director of research Richard Donnell said: "The economic and financial backdrop to the UK housing market remains far from positive but over the last three years the sector has adapted to an environment where low turnover and constrained finance have become the norm.

"House prices have fallen consecutively over the last 16 months but on a year-on-year basis they are down just 2.3 per cent.

"While demand may have fallen for the last four months in a row there has been no significant acceleration in price falls. This is at odds with consumer confidence which over the same period, has fallen considerably."

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