Property recovery on the cards

18/02/2008 by Dave.

The UK housing market is set to recover from its recent troubles and prices could start rising again as early as the final quarter of 2008.

Neil Parker, a strategist with The Royal Bank of Scotland Global Banking & Markets division, has revealed that he is positive about the outlook for the housing market.

During a speech to delegates at a Manning Stainton Builder and Developer Breakfast Briefing earlier this month, Mr Parker admitted that conditions have been harsh in recent months.

However, he went on to highlight why he remains confident that the UK housing market will begin to pick up again.

“Over the past six months the UK property market has already seen a significant slowdown in activity and residential prices have fallen by about half the amount we expect them to fall overall,” said Mr Parker.

“Importantly, though, the Bank of England’s interest rate setting body - the Monetary Policy Committee - have already begun the process of reducing interest rates to support growth, and the UK Chancellor has recently made some encouraging comments regarding a loosening of the fiscal purse strings.

“We believe that the combination of a monetary and fiscal loosening will help the UK economy begin to recover, perhaps as early as the fourth quarter of 2008,” he continued.

Halifax recently revealed that UK house price growth stabilised between December and January

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