NAEA chief executive Mark Hayward cautioned against speculators predicting price surges, particularly in the South East, warning the recovery would be slow and painful for many homeowners particularly those outside London.
He said: “Next year will see the UK property market adapt to the turbulence of the past year and begin to stabilise but I don’t believe we will see a surge in house prices during 2013 as some speculators have suggested.
“Our big challenge is to improve the level of housing supply in the UK; much more needs to be done by Government to up the levels of new homes being built.”
Hayward said more needs to be done to support first-time buyers partly by encouraging lenders to offer products to support those seeking to purchase their first home.
“Transactions will likely remain suppressed at this lower end of the market as many prospective buyers do not yet have the confidence to borrow,” he added.
And he said: “The North-South divide was laid bare during the Olympics and although the promised house price boom in East London didn’t fully materialise the knock-on effect on market confidence in London and the South East cannot be under-estimated.
“The North of the UK continues to struggle to keep up with the modest housing recovery in the South and 2013 will see this gap widen.”
