THE HOUSE price slump will continue apace this year and next, according to a starkly bearish annual forecast from the National Housing Federation (NHF) released today.
In a gloomy report the group has warned of a sharp 12.2 per cent fall in total in England during this year, and a further 4.6 per cent fall next year, ahead of stabilisation in 2011 in the form of a meagre 1.1 per cent rise.
The group said house prices will be 20 per cent higher than now in 2014, meaning homeowners and stricken buy-to-let investors face a gruelling five-year wait before the damage done by the collapse of the property bubble is repaired.
The downbeat report pours cold water on the latest Nationwide Building Society report, which last week suggested prices across the UK could register an overall rise this year.
But, the NHF also said the stabilisation seen in 2011 would be followed by a bumper 7.5 per cent price rise the following year, and then a stellar 8.4 per cent rise in 2013 and a 6.4 per cent gain in 2014.
NHF chief executive David Orr said: “Our research shows that, while house prices are falling in the short term, they will inevitably increase in the long term because of a fundamental under-supply of housing.”
He added that only 60 per cent of the required level of new homes is currently being built, guaranteeing eventual price rises.
by JOHN KENCHINGTON
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