Housing Market Confidence Continues to Improve

This article by What House? on October 15th, 2013 reveals the rapid growth of potential home buyers.

Confidence among prospective homebuyers is rapidly improving with some 10% of Britons, equivalent to 5.1m people, planning to buy a home over the next 12 months, up from 8%, or 3.7m people, in January 2012, according to research conducted by Santander Mortgages.

Improving consumer sentiment is being fuelled partly by the government's Help to Buy scheme which is helping more people acquire a new home with a deposit from just 5%.

The research reveals that younger people are the most likely to purchase property, with 18% of those aged 18 to 34 saying they are likely to purchase a new home. This compares with 9% of 35- to 54-year-olds and 5% of those aged 55 or over.

Phil Cliff, director of Santander Mortgages, says: "The UK has seen a number of encouraging economic statistics emerging in recent weeks and months and our findings suggest a significant increase in confidence in the housing market. Help to Buy is certainly stimulating the market and the extension of the scheme from January 2014 should see existing homeowners who have been unable to move entering the market again."

By region, Londoners are the most confident about their chances of purchasing a home in the next 12 months, with one in five believing it is likely they will do so.
 
Those in London are also most confident that the value of their home will rise over the next year, with 79% of respondents to the survey believing it will do so compared to just 2% who believe it will fall.

Article Source: http://www.whathouse.co.uk/news/housing-market-confidence-continues-to-improve-329#.Ul38XhB360Q