propertytalk Live! - Rightmove: How long will Mr Average have to rent?

propertytalk Live! - Rightmove: How long will Mr Average have to rent?

Trends during the first six weeks of the New Year normally shed light on how the remainder of the year might pan out.

The start of this year is very much a repeat of 2010 and in the latest Rightmove February House Price Index 2011 is expected to be characterised by what may well be the new norm, with the ‘average’ buyer of yesteryear locked out of the market.

New sellers coming to market this month mimicked those of February last year, raising their asking prices by 3.1% in the month to an average of £230,030, leaving year-on-year prices virtually the same too (+0.3%). With lenders stating that they expect mortgage lending to remain static at around 2010 levels throughout 2011, and new seller numbers practically unchanged year-on-year what might have been seen as a passing phase of low transaction levels in the housing market now looks set to be the norm for the foreseeable future.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, comments:

“Any hopes that transaction volumes may be on the springboard preparing to return to historic norms will have been dashed by lenders’ predictions that 2011 lending volumes will match 2010’s dire levels. ‘Mr Average’ will be left out in the cold in the buying and selling game unless the beneficiary of a hereditary hand-out. The current subdued market volumes are set to be the new norm unless the seemingly never ending discussions between Government and mortgage lenders find some way of increasing ‘Mr Average’s’ access to lower deposit mortgages without pricing them out of the market ”.