"We expect the U.K. housing market to move sideways rather than collapsing going into 2013"
- Annalisa Piazza, an analyst at Newedge Group
The U.K. home prices fell surprisingly in November after several months of improvement, adding to concerns that the economy is not on the path of recovery yet. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that a house-price gauge slipped to minus 9 from minus 7 in October, indicating that more surveyors saw a drop in values rather than increase. In the meantime, a gauge of newly agreed sales fell to 6 from 19 in October, while the three-month price-expectations balance tumbled to minus 6, down from minus 3. Despite weaker economic data, the number of enquiries by prospective buyers advanced for the third month and is now up 11% since August, a sign that nation's Funding for Lending Scheme is working properly.
"We expect the U.K. housing market to move sideways rather than collapsing going into 2013," said Annalisa Piazza, an analyst at Newedge Group in London. "Tight housing supply and the effects of accommodative monetary policy should help to support housing activity in the first half of 2013 and a modest recovery in prices is expected in the second half."
"The macroeconomic picture continues to weigh heavy on the market and continues to prevent any really significant boost in activity," said Peter Bolton King, RICS global residential director.
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