House price website reveals 2014 forecast

LONDON - Feb. 18, 2014 - PRLog -- Property in London and the South East especially has been booming – with prices going up seemingly interminably. Leading house price blog House Price Predictions has been at the forefront of analysing the trends of property through 2013 (http://www.housepricepredictions.com/average-house-prices-2013/)and has now revealed its latest insights into how the market will fare throughout the coming year. Bloggers from the site spoke to a number of experts who deal with selling and letting property in prime parts of London and asked them for their forecasts moving into 2014:

Laurence Glynne, Partner, LDG, an estate agents in Central London:

“LDG believe the market will remain stable in sales, lettings and commercial in the New Year with no major issues affecting current trends. As we approach Spring with the Election looming, the litmus test will  be the decisions taken by the Government  regarding  interest rates, which is one of the main factors which has kept the volume of sales low and lettings so active.”

Ajaye Gopal, Director, Eden Harper, estate agents in Brixton:

“I expect to see further price rises in the New Year, particularly as first time buyers and investors are likely to return to the market in larger numbers. The acute shortage of property in London and the surrounding suburban areas has also been a contributory factor to the rises we have seen in 2013. Confidence in property as a long term investment is strong and as the economy shows signs of improving, it looks like prices are only going to be moving one way…up!”

Richard Symes, Director, Eden Harper, estate agents in Battersea (http://www.edenharper.com/about-us):

“Given the huge price increases that have happened in such a short time, I’m slightly more wary than he is, going forward. It’s not much more scientific than saying ‘what goes up must come down’ so I’m very interested to see how the first quarter of 2014 develops before making an assessment for next year. Certainly demand is still incredibly strong and property on the market is scarce but I’ve been fielding more and more queries from clients regarding whether this is a ‘bubble’ which could be a sign that increases will slow if nothing more. Interest rate rises are the biggest single worry but the consensus from the Bank of England is that nothing will change until 2015 so we should be ok for a while yet…”

Alistair Boscawen, Partner, Best Gapp, estate agents in Belgravia:

“The Belgravia market remains strong, with some fabulous sales results being achieved. There has been the usual slowdown that we have come to expect after half term in the run up towards Christmas.  Nothing has changed - the Central London property market is somewhere that overseas buyers feel comfortable investing in, they know it is a safe investment and offers a good return on their money, so I see a strong start in the new year driven by high demand and a shortage of available stock.”

John Collard, Director, Robert Holmes, an estate agents in Wimbledon (http://robertholmes.co.uk/our-people):
“We are confident that the market will consolidate further during 2014 and, in the Wimbledon and Coombe areas in which we specialise, will strengthen, where properties priced above £2,000,000 are concerned. There continues to be strong demand below £2,000,000 where Stamp Duty rates are lower and there is still a backlog of young first time buyers wishing to get their feet on the property ladder. We also expect a continuing rise in enquiries from foreign purchasers for properties to buy and to rent.”

House Price Predictions has also reviewed the commercial property market, which it reports is expected to receive double digit returns in 2014 (http://www.housepricepredictions.com/commercial-property-...) and has also looked at average house prices over the last 20 years (http://www.housepricepredictions.com/whats-average-house-price-increase-last-20-years-uk/). Throughout the year it will continue to analyse the housing market and how it’s performing in the UK capital and beyond.