1
Oct
House price "inertia" in September
Britain's residential housing market continued to stagnate last
month amid the Northern Rock crisis, according to property
intelligence firm Hometrack.
Its latest national survey shows unchanged house prices during
September, the second month in a row neither growth prices have
remained unmoved.
Both demand from buyers and a fall in the number of houses coming
on to the market occurred last month, reflecting what Hometrack's
director of research Richard Donnell says is a period of "inertia"
in the market.
He says despite the uncertainty caused by the dearth of interbank
credit, house prices are not falling because of a shortage of
supply.
"If anything there appears to be a tightening in supply in the face
of greater uncertainty," Mr Donnell commented.
"While demand and sales volumes look set to remain weak over the
rest of the year, a lack of saleable properties look likely to
support achievable prices.
"In contrast weaker demand is likely to impact most on asking
prices which tend to bear the brunt of any decline in
confidence."
Today's data from Hometrack reflects September figures from
property website Rightmove. It blamed the introduction of home
information packs for the fall in supply and saw a 2.6 per cent
drop in asking prices.