Is it the end of the line for House Price Rises?
When I look at recent years of housing price figures in the UK it has certainly been a profitable time for those owning property in the UK, average prices has shown a relatively slippery near Fairly Liquid slide upwards since 1967. Yes of course normal inflation takes care of any items increasing value, but property prices have certainly out stripped the average pay packets in recent years.
1997 to 2007 saw a very high spike in average house prices until we had, what many thought would be more prolonged, dip back down from 2007 – 2009 when confidence wavered along with the subprime mortgage market in the United States – But prices hardly made any adjustments before they were once again let loose to scale upwards with the more recent years thanks to the increased immigration in to the country lowering stocks and turning a property market from owners to investors / landlords.
Two examples of why I think house prices will very soon be hit with a down turn is Google and searches – One here below for ‘UK House Prices’ on All results which currently shows only doom and gloom news stories, a halt in increases, down turn in some areas and a vote of no confidence:
Compared to checking out the same search word within the ‘Images‘ section of Google which sees a collection of graphs and charts depicting the recent years of house prices figures and an upward trend in nearly all:
I tend not to take note of those saying that house prices today are what they should be at especially when many are struggling to pay for mortgages on that first home or being squeezed continuously by the landlord who wants more and more profit as they confidently know there is a housing shortage and another tenant can easily be found… Immigration in to the UK has been strong in strong numbers in recent years, figures show that a non-UK born population between 1991-2016 grew by 4.8 million (these are probably the legal entries only) which will of course require housing / benefits etc. A recent interview with MEP Janice Atkinson speaks about current immigration and housing prices showing the worrying situation for many looking to enter the housing market… But are things about to change?