Housing market confidence at highest level in 3 years

• 74% of homeowners expect house prices to rise by September
• Average house price predicted to grow by 4.5% over next six months
• Owners in Yorkshire and Humber least confident. London owners most bullish

UK homeowners are expecting house prices to rise by 4.5% over the next six months, a sign of significant confidence returning to the housing market, according to the latest research from property website Zoopla.co.uk.
This is the biggest predicted house price increase by UK homeowners in over 3 years and could signal that 2013 is set to be the best year for the property market since the financial crisis struck.
The proportion of homeowners who think that house prices will increase this year is also at the highest level for almost three years with three quarters (74%) of those surveyed predicting prices in their area will increase, the most since the second quarter of 2010.

Confidence has grown notably over just the past few months as only 65% of owners predicted an increase back in December. And only 13% of owners now expect prices to fall over the course of the next six months, down from 19% at the end of last year.
Owners in Yorkshire and the Humber are the least bullish with only 61% expecting property prices to rise over the next six months. In stark contrast, 89% of London homeowners predict prices to rise by the end of summer making them the most confident property owners in the UK.
Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.co.uk, commented: “The housing market has seen a number of positive events in recent weeks including the Budget and growing confidence from homeowners is a significant step towards a recovery. With first-time buyer lending gradually increasing and mortgages becoming more readily available, there is real belief that the property market is starting to turn a corner and finally drag itself out of the hole since the financial crisis.”
Methodology

• Zoopla invited registered users of Zoopla.co.uk to participate in this study.
• The survey was fielded from 25th – 29th March 2013.
• There were 4,116 total respondents, of which 3,485 were homeowners. Statistics based on a sample of this size are accurate to within less than +/- 1.0% with 95% confidence, if the sample is drawn at random from the population it intends to represent.
• These respondents represent the perspective of the Zoopla.co.uk user community, and could be considered to represent the population of people interested in the UK residential property market.
• All statistics are based on the full sample unless otherwise noted.