Slump to end by Christmas 2009!!
Economic consultancy Lombard Street Research are predicting an end to the housing slump by Christmas time. The average fall has been around 20% with some regions hit much harder than others, areas such as the North of England and the over-inflated markets like London have been hit hardest with Scotland and Northern Ireland relatively unaffected. The fall has been arrested at around 10% to 20% and sellers have accepted this as part of the free market and sales have now started to increase, with house prices bottoming out.
This will be good news for everybody, and could be an indicator that the credit crunch wont neccessarily develop into a 70s type recession taking us well into the next decade.
The affordability of property as compared to earings and cost of living is now at 1990 levels, meaning more first time buyers and low wage earners can now get on the ladder. This will be another reason for the prices to stabilse in the months to come
Lombard Street Research predict that property prices will not need the 7 years recovery time that were required after the ‘boom and bust’ of the last decade.