The slowdown has been mostly due to prices of higher value homes falling in London and the South Eastern counties, according to the company.
John Wriglesworth, hometrack’s housing economist, comments: “There is no question that the housing market has been slowing down over the course of the last six months, and this trend is likely to continue into next year. At the top end of the market - London and the South East - price falls have already started, due mainly to fear of unemployment spurred by the recent spate of City-based job losses. However, the rest of the country is still booming. With the lowest interest rates for 50 years and high employment levels nationally, there is plenty of scope for future price rises.
“We are forecasting 4% for the UK as a whole for 2003, but this accommodates a –5% fall for Greater London. There will be a significant North-South divide next year, with the North bouyant and active and the South East slowing and stagnating.”
Areas with the highest price falls are Central London & City (-0.3%), Berkshire (-0.1%), South West London (-0.1%) and West London (-0.1%), according to hometrack. Elsewhere in the country, prices mostly continued to rise. The highest price rises occurred in Devon (0.6%), County Durham (0.5%) and North and East Yorkshire (0.4%). The average house price in the 20 counties with the highest price rises is £128,160, whereas the average price of the 20 lowest performing counties is £284,125. Clearly the house price slowdown is stemming from the high value top-end of the housing market while the more affordable homes, mostly in the outer counties, are still showing fairly healthy price rises.
