Nigel Stockton, financial services director at Countrywide, said: “The Olympics will impact transaction volumes in the property market in the short term.
“We are predicting a downturn in housing transactions whilst the Euro crisis/Olympics play out. As a result, we do believe that Q1 was the strongest performance that we can expect in 2012.”
Stockton said those who need to move will continue to do so but that has always been the case and the housing market remains underpinned at around 40,000 transactions per month.
He added: “Unfortunately, these transactions alone won’t lead to any growth in the housing market so my concern is always on the downside."
Stockton also challenged research house Capital Economics which predicted 2012 would see house prices fall 5%.
He said: “That does not make sense to me. The Olympics countdown is now in full swing and although history tells us property sales can stagnate for a country hosting an international sporting event - we’re now past the 100 day milestone.
“With the Olympic media machine in overdrive I can’t help but wonder if the long term impact of the Olympics on the host country’s property market has been over overstated.”
