39 per cent of homeowners now believe that their property will continue to increase in value. Although confidence is at an all time low, (since the survey started in March 1998), this is the smallest month on month fall for seven months. Confidence was 40 per cent in November '04 and 45 per cent in October '04.
Andy Gray, head of mortgages at Barclays and The Woolwich, said: "Last month we predicted that confidence would start to stabilise as we enter into the New Year, these latest figures suggest that this may be starting to happen. We expect that confidence will remain low for the next month or so with the potential for a slight pick up in spring 2005 as the traditional house buying period starts up."
Scotland was the most confident region last month and one of the only regions where confidence increased, the other was the South East. Confidence fell the most in the South West, but the East is now the least confident region with just 35 per cent of home owners believing that their home will continue to increase in value over the next 12 months.
