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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nextrade! who wrote (26478)	1/8/2005 2:56:13 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 306849

House price rise just a blip, says Halifax By David Litterick (Filed: 08/01/2005) money.telegraph.co.uk House prices resumed their upward path last month as figures from the Halifax showed the average cost of a home increased by 1.1pc during December. But homeowners were warned that the surprise rise was likely to prove a temporary blip, with more falls expected over the next few months. Despite the gain, which followed falls in October and November, the banking group said the overall picture was still one of a cooling in the market. Prices were only 0.1pc higher in the final quarter of the year as the Halifax stuck by its forecast for a drop of 2pc in 2005. Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis said: "Sound housing market fundamentals will continue to underpin the market in 2005, ensuring that the market remains healthy and that house prices fall only slightly." The stock market took the data in its stride, adding 29.8 points to close at 4854.1 – its highest level since June 12, 2002. The rise was broad-based and determined by little more than positive sentiment based on the pre-Christmas rally on both sides of the Atlantic and the expectation that merger and acquisition activity is returning to the markets. The OECD added yesterday that economic prospects remained strong. After a year when house prices rose by 15.1pc – but by just 2.8pc in the second half – the average home is now valued at £162,086, according to Halifax. The annual rise compares with growth of 15.4pc in 2003 and 26.4pc in 2002. Scotland is the only region of the UK where the average price is below £100,000 and London is the most expensive region, where the average house will set buyers back £241,670, despite two successive quarters of falls. In fact, the capital registered a rise of just 4pc over the whole of 2004, the slowest rate of house price inflation since 1995. Ed Stansfield, property economist at Capital Economics, said: "The report came as something of a surprise, given the downbeat data from most other sources. As such, we suspect that December's rise will be reversed in the coming months. House price falls, not rises, will be the dominant story of 2005. We expect house prices to fall by some 6pc-7pc over the coming 12 months." The Halifax said prices continued to rise in the north of England with fourth-quarter gains of 3pc in the North West, 1.2pc in Yorkshire and the Humber and 0.7pc in the North region. All other areas saw a fall in prices, with the biggest quarterly declines being 6.2pc in Wales and 1.6pc in the South East. The continued rally in the northern property market means the difference between the average price in the South and the equivalent in the North has fallen by £15,000 from a record £99,000 in early 2003. Mr Ellis said the continuing signs of a genuine slowdown in the housing market were easing pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates again. "We believe that base rates have peaked at their current rate of 4¾pc and will end the year half a percentage point lower at 4¼pc." 7 January 2005: Cheap home plan will backfire, builder warns Prescott