Second half of the year to wipe out house price gains
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House price drops in the second half of the year are set to wipe out any gains made so far in 2010, claims Rightmove.
The Rightmove House Price Index for July shows a 0.6% drop in prices with the average UK property price at £236,332.
Seller numbers are outstripping new mortgage approvals by approximately 5:2 and new-to-market sellers dropping their asking prices for the first time this year, down by 0.6% this month.
Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, says: “The number of new mortgages being approved each month is less than half the number of new sellers, with the imbalance being exacerbated by the increase of nearly 50% in the number of properties coming to market compared to a year ago.
“More aggressive pricing is now the order of the day, which means that conditions are ripe for a strong buyers’ market in the second half of 2010. This is likely to see the average price gains of 7% for the first half of the year wiped out by year-end, in line with Rightmove’s original forecast for the year of no net change in house prices.”
The 0.6% drop is the first month-on-month fall in 2010 after the first six months saw prices jump by £15,506 to a peak of £237,767 in June.
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