House price boom 'to return'

The housing market will soon see a return to fast-rising prices, a new report has predicted.

A report by the National Housing Federation (NHF) has said there will be a 4.4 per cent decline in prices over the whole of 2008 and 2.1 per cent in 2009, meaning those looking to buy in the short-term could see their house prices decline.

However, the greater problem could be affordability in the longer run, with the NHF predicting that from 2010 the market will rebound with annual inflation of over nine per cent, meaning that by 2013 the average house price in England will be 25 per cent higher than it is now at nearly £275,000.

The uncertainty over future price trends may have been added to by the fact that the NHF report differs substantially in its predictions of the extent to which values will drop between now and 2010.

A Deloitte report has said there will be a fall of one third by 2010, This is Money reports.

Those seeking to sidestep this uncertainty may do so by self building their own home.