Most UK home owners expect property prices to rise in 2015

The majority of home owners in the UK are confident about property prices rising in 2015, although the number is down slightly from a year ago.

Overall some 88% of home owners believe prices will rise by the summer, down from 92% a year ago, according to the latest Zoopla housing market sentiment survey.

Property owners expect values to climb a further 7% on average in the first six months of 2015 and in London they expect property values to climb 9%.

The East of England has the highest proportion of optimistic home owners, with 91% anticipating property prices to carry on climbing in the first half of 2015. Confidence is least prevalent in the North East, but 82% still expect house price growth between now and June.

Londoners expect the fastest rise in house prices, anticipating a further 9% boost in values by the summer. Home owners in the north are more cautious, with those in Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West predicting a more modest 5% uplift in property prices over the next six months.
 
Recent indications of cooling house price growth have left an increasing proportion of homeowners worried about values dropping. Currently, 7% of property owners expect prices to falling during the first half of this year, an increase from just 3% at the start of 2014.

‘The UK property market appeared to have changed its spots towards the end of 2014 and the more sluggish pace of growth seen in the latter months was a very different beast to the lively price hikes of the spring,’ said Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.

‘But home owners don’t appear to have been seriously spooked, with consumer confidence standing firm. Encouraged by the vast gains they’ve already experienced this year, homeowners still expect to benefit from significant house price growth in the first half of 2015,’ he added.