Recovery of house prices could take more than four years

If you thought that the fall in house prices was just a minor blip, then you had better think again. It seems as if we are in for a long bumpy ride, one that could take more than four years to recover from. House prices have now been falling for the past few months, and if you are looking to sell, then expect not to make as much as you first thought. In a survey carried out by ITV1’s Tonight programme, 60% of 225 Society of Business Economists (SBE) members all agree with the four year forecast. They also agree that house prices could soon drop by at least 20 percent from the top of the market; some even predict it being as much as 30 percent.

Many of the experts from a number of the UK’s banks and building societies are saying that house prices will fall between 6 to 10 percent this year. However; they have said the housing market could hit rock bottom by 2009. Bronwyn Curtis, SBE’s chairman has said “buyers could have to wait a long time to get their money back.” She also added “It doesn’t look like we’re going to see a fall, which is what we’re in the middle of, and a quick bounce back. It does look as though it’s going to go on, and we’ll have slow growth for some time.”

It seems that this latest in a long line of surveys are just proving how horrible the housing market, along with the whole economy really is. With the current housing market being in a bit of a downwards spiral, this is having a knock on affect with UK’s major house builders, as there share prices took a bit of a hammering last week. Estates agents have seen a 30 year low in houses changing hands, estates agents are only selling an average of 17 properties each during March, April and May.

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