The Managing Director of SiteSales Property Group, Murray Smith has commented on the recently published results of the Halifax House Price Index. SiteSales is one of the leading residential property sales and development consultancy companies in London and the South East.
The Halifax House Price Index has shown that the national average house prices have become distorted by the stasis seen in the second hand market. The new build property values have the support of the Help to Buy scheme which appears to be keeping this area of the market looking strong. It is the opinion of the Managing Director that the UK has a value plateau, which has been clear to Murray Smith for a while.
The recent Halifax report has seen a number of slight falls in a number of the different high value locations across the country. These value drops appear to represent a weakness in the upper-sector of the market. However at the other end of the spectrum the lower value end of the market seems to be staying level. However this stasis is down to the lack of housing and the strong pressure and demand in the industry for affordable housing.
Murray Smith has explored the results of the latest Halifax Property Price Index and feels that the market is going to experience very little change for a while yet. However, the SiteSales Managing Director feels that this is no bad thing, as it could lead to benefits over the medium term, allowing the house price to income ratio to adjust to a slightly more reasonable figure. Over the course of the last 15 years in London, the house price to income ratio has trebled, and doubled in other parts of the country. If the ratio does adjust, it will mean that the younger generation may be able to buy their own house, instead of dismissing it as a dream of how things were before.
