Slowdown not crash predicted for 2008
House prices this year will not crash but rather land gently, a surveyor firm has predicted.
CB Richard Ellis has suggested house prices will increase by three per cent this year, refuting suggestions from firms such as Grant Thornton and Citigroup that prices could fall by up to ten per cent, the Guardian reports.
Describing the situation as "not as scary" as predicted, head of residential research Jennet Siebrits commented: "After such a prolonged period of rapid house price growth, the conjecture of a housing market crash comes as no surprise," adding that cycles were a normal part of the UK housing scene.
She said strong employment and economic growth figures meant the underlying situation would not support a crash.
A similar view was expressed yesterday by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Spokesman Ian Perry said the underlying conditions were "vastly different" to those of the early 1990s when the last price crash occurred. 
© Adfero Ltd