Unemployment could 'halt resurgent house prices'

Date:Monday 24th August 2009
Author: Max Freedman

Despite positive news in the property market recently, house prices could fall again due to unemployment, according to an industry expert.

Selwyn Lim, director of housing data website Mouseprice.com, claims that unemployment is a "lagging economic indicator", so we could see another downturn even after a slight recovery.

He explains that it is still not clear how things will turn out, but that a pessimistic forecast would suggest that the unemployment factor has yet to kick in.

"Typically, if the past is anything to go by, it is the last indicator that tends to keep heading downwards while there is a turnaround in other indicators," he says.

Mr Lim expects people to be anxious about the prospect of house prices falling again since we have seen something of an upturn in recent months.

Unemployment increased to 2.43 million, according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics this month, which is 220,000 up on the previous three months.