Confidence falls across the UK real estate market, survey has found

The number of homeowners expecting house prices to rise has dropped sharply from 78% to 63% and one in four now expect property prices to fall further, up from one in 10 three months ago, the research from Zoopla shows.
 
In addition some 89% of those taking part in its latest Housing Market Sentiment survey say it is no easier to obtain mortgage financing now than it was three months ago
 
According to the survey of 6,149 homeowners by the property website the average growth predicted for house prices in the next six months has also dropped to only 3% from 5.5% three months ago.
 
Whilst 25% of those surveyed said they expect house prices in their local area to fall over the next six months, only 21% expect the value of their own home to fall over the same period. And whilst the average rise in values was predicted as 3% for the local neighbourhood, homeowners surveyed expect their own homes to rise by 3.4% on average indicating that they expect their own home to perform 13% better than their neighbours.
 
The survey also shows that the severe shortage in the availability of mortgage finance is having a detrimental effect on the health of the property market and consumer confidence with nine out 10 respondents stating that it is now no easier to get financing than it was three months ago.
 
Across the UK, the Scots remain the most upbeat with 71% expecting house prices in their area to rise over the next six months, but this is down from 84% three months ago. In England optimism has fallen the hardest with 62% predicting a house prices rise compared to 79% three month ago.
 
And the Welsh are the most pessimistic on the chances of local property prices rising in the next 6 months with only 61% of Welsh homeowners predicting an increase versus 73% three months ago.
 
‘The ongoing mortgage drought has started to have a real impact on consumer confidence, with optimism about the outlook for the housing market dropping sharply. The shortage of funding on offer is preventing many people who do want to buy from being able to purchase a home, particularly first time buyers,’ said Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.
 
‘Increasing activity levels is vital for the health of the property market and the wider economy in turn. The banks must pull out all the stops to increase lending,’ he added.