More than half of consumers ‘expect to see house prices rise next year’

Consumers are more likely to think house prices will increase by the end of 2019 than property professionals, a survey suggests.

A general survey of people across Britain found more than half (55%) expected house prices in the area where they live to rise, property website Zoopla found.

This compares with a third (33%) of estate and letting agents separately surveyed who predicted house prices would increase over the same period.

More than 6,000 consumers, including people who own their home and those who do not, as well as 660 estate and letting agents were surveyed.

Consumers in East Anglia were most likely to expect property price rises, with 60% thinking they will go up, followed by those in the Midlands (59%), and London (58%).

People in Wales were the least confident of prices rising, with 46% anticipating increases.

Lawrence Hall, spokesman for Zoopla, said: “The report shows that in the face of growing uncertainty and a slowing housing market, consumers remain optimistic over the property market with a majority still expecting property prices to rise over 2019.

“However, agent confidence paints a slightly different picture with fewer predicting price growth. With ongoing economic concerns, it will be interesting to see whether consumer confidence starts to fall in the coming months.”

Here are the percentages of consumers who expect property prices to rise in 2019, according to Zoopla:
– East Anglia, 60
– Midlands, 59
– London, 58
– South East, 57
– South West, 55
– Scotland, 53
– North of England, 51
– Wales, 46

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