reallymoving: Predicts house prices to rise 5.9%

This increase would represent a rise from £291,214 in February, to £308,396 in May 2020.

reallymoving: Predicts house prices to rise 5.9%

The average property price in England and Wales is on track to rise by 5.9% over the next three months, according to reallymoving House Price Forecast March 2020.

This increase would represent a rise from £291,214 in February, to £308,396 in May 2020.

Breaking the data down, reallymoving expects to see average property prices fall by 0.7% in March, however rise by 4.3% in April and by 2.3% in May.

Data collected by the firm shows that there has been nine consecutive months of positive year-on-year growth between August 2019 and May 2020.

Reallymoving believes this suggests that pent up demand is now being released.

However, it points to Coronavirus and the disruption this could potentially cause, resulting in the upturn in consumer confidence being short lived.

Annual growth is currently forecast to reach 3.4% in March, 6.0% in April and 9.9% in May.

Looking at the data on a regional basis, it predicts to see average property prices in Wales rise by the greatest margin over the next three months, an uplift of 18.6%. This would equate to average house prices rising from £176,962 in February, to £209,812 in May.

Meanwhile, average property prices in the West Midlands are expected to rise by the smallest figure, a marginal rise of 0.4% between February and May 2020. This increase would represent an increase from £218,704 to £219,484.

Rob Houghton, chief executive at reallymoving, said: “Buyers returned to the market in their droves in the New Year and this activity has clearly translated through to higher house prices across the country between March and May, but now we are facing another potentially prolonged period of uncertainty due to the deepening Coronavirus crisis.

“The current situation is unprecedented but we know from past events such as the global financial crisis in 2008 that when people were worried about their jobs and their pensions, they tend to withdraw from making big financial decisions and avoid taking on new debt.

“It’s too early to say the extent to which the property market will be affected, and the Bank of England’s emergency 0.5% interest rate cut should help mitigate the impact, but consumer confidence is fragile and I expect we will see a proportion of deals collapsing and a short-term drop in prices by late spring or early summer.”