House Market Recovery? Wednesday, 20th May 2009

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) reported that property sales in April were at their highest since October 2007 which gives further evidence that the housing market may be recovering.

The average estate agent sold 10 properties last month, up from 8 the previous month and a record low of 5 last August, according to the NAEA.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents commenting on the findings, said: “What we are beginning to see now are consistent positive indicators that have held firm or improved since the beginning of the year.

Six months ago people were talking about how British people’s attitude to owning property had changed in the recession. The NAEA always said that this was nonsense, and that demand for property remained strong, but confidence in the market had gone. These figures show that this confidence is returning.”

Meanwhile property website Rightmove revealed that property asking prices are up for the fourth month in a row by 2.4%.

The average asking price of a home increased by £5,000 to £227,441, during the four weeks to May 9 - the largest percentage rise since May 2003 in the midst of the housing boom according to Rightmove.

There is a word of caution however, that as vendors see their equity dwindling away due to falling house prices, they may be pricing their homes at unrealistic levels.

There is a worry that the lack of supply of good housing stock could delay the recovery of the housing market.

And it is widely reported new buyer enquiries continued to rise in April - the sixth consecutive monthly rise and the fastest pace since August 1999.