Homeowners more confident about housing market

Confidence in the property market has more than doubled across the UK, according to research from Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank.

The research found that more than half (55 per cent) of homeowners anticipate their home will increase in value over the next 12 months compared to only 25 per cent at the same time last year.

This positive outlook on house prices is not limited to London, and there is growing confidence across all regions with the East of England and Yorkshire have seen the greatest confidence boost.

UK house price expectations

The results come on the back of a growing number of economic indicators that show an increasing confidence in the UK economy as a whole. Figures from HM Treasury show that the number of housing transactions is now at its highest since 2008, consumer confidence is recovering and confidence among businesses is increasing too.

Across the regions, the picture is of increasing belief in the market across all areas with confidence almost doubling or better in each. While London (80 per cent) and the South East (70 per cent) remain the areas most confident in an increase in property prices, other areas have an increasingly positive view of house prices.

In 2013, homeowners in the East of England were least confident, with fewer than one in seven expecting to see the price of their home rise in the year ahead. Now they are more than four and a half times as optimistic compared to last year; meaning two thirds believe the value of their home will rise in the next 12 months.

Yorkshire has also see a big rise, homeowners there are now over three times more likely to predict growth in property prices than a year ago, when just one in six thought house prices in the region would rise. The Midlands, South West and London, where confidence was already relatively high, all saw growing confidence but slightly below the rate seen nationally.

Increasing confidence

Andrew Pearce, retail director for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, said: “While some differences remain around the country, it is encouraging to see confidence returning to the property market so widely and so clearly. Without exception, there has been a strong rebound in confidence in the housing market in the last year across the regions.

“We are seeing this positive attitude reflected in the growing demand for mortgages, our own and in the wider market, and the overall level of housing transactions.  Recovery is still in its early stages, and there must be care to balance the demand for mortgages so as not to see a repeat of past issues, but the wider economic measures are also pointing in the right direction for a sustained and sustainable period of growth.”