Housing market demand 'returning to normal'

Predictions of a sustained fall in house prices are way off the mark, it has been claimed.

While recently released figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) show that house price growth remained negative in September, Peter Williams, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders' Association (IMLA), believes that this slowdown was "inevitable" given tighter lending criteria, numerous interest rate rises and diminishing availability of mortgages.

He therefore suggests that it was "quite understandable" that consumers have adopted a more reserved outlook - but went on to predict that house price growth can still be expected, albeit at a slower rate.

"The housing market is likely to continue to tick over at both lower and slower levels for a number of months, but there is no reason to expect any major falls in property prices," he remarked.

He has subsequently gone on to propose that the mortgage market is starting to pick up - a phenomenon which will inevitably lead to an augmentation in the rate of house price growth.

"Shocks to the system do have an impact on everybody but confidence is beginning to return and overall we can now expect to see the mortgage market moving forward," he said.

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