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More of the same for housing market in 2012

Monday, 12 December 2011 2:04 PM

The housing market is in for another year of broad stability, says the Halifax, but much may depend on how the Eurozone crisis unfolds.

The bank said the market had proved highly resilient this year despite the deterioration in the outlook for the UK and world economies. Stability on house sales and the supply of properties for sale has helped stabilise prices.

And that resilience was set to continue in 2012 with prices likely to end the year at levels close to where they began it.

The Halifax expects interest rates to stay at the current record low for the foreseeable future. Typical mortgage payments for a new borrower have fallen from a peak of 48 per cent of disposable income in 2007 to 26 per cent now.

Prices are expected to be strongest in London and the South East but outside southern England prices will be more constrained by weaker economic performance and higher public sector employment.

But Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis warned there was still considerable uncertainty about the UK economy.

He said: “The path of the economy during 2012 will, to a large extent, depend on how events in the Eurozone unfold. In addition, the extent to which households choose to reduce their debts will also affect growth over the medium term. As a result, the outlook for both the economy and house prices is particularly uncertain.”

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