Hometrack: House prices will fall by 13%

Date:Tuesday 23rd December 2008
Author: Max Freedman

House prices will fall by 13 per cent in the next two years, it has been predicted.

Property consultancy firm Hometrack believes that as lending criteria are restricted, prices will fall by ten per cent next year and three per cent more in 2010.

Repossessions are expected to increase to 70,000 in 2009, the current figure being 45,000.

Net lending for mortgages is also predicted to have a growth of just £15 billion next year, compared to this year's figure of £39 billion and 2007's statistic of £107 billion.

Director of research at the information provider, Richard Donnell, said: "For homeowners, who tend to base price changes against what they believed they could have put their home on the market for in 2007, it will feel more like a 30 per cent fall once asking prices are taken into account."

Hometrack provides risk analyses and automated valuations to more than 90 per cent of mortgage lenders in the UK, according to its website.

It was established in 1999.