With some agents squabbling about whether there has been or will be a post-election bounce, Rightmove has come down firmly insisting there will be a boomlet - and it could mean up to 17 per cent more sellers.
The portal’s latest house price index shows an unseasonal drop in asking prices - down 0.1 per cent and sharply contrasting with the monthly figure this time last year, when there was a 2.1 per cent increase.
However Rightmove insists that buyer affordability is now much improved with the annual rise in asking prices running at a modest 2.5 per cent. It says the brakes are off the market thanks to the election of a majority government, and it says the 17 per cent jump in seller-numbers after the 2010 election may be repeated.
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All fairly predictable stuff. Pre-election jitters will always cause a little bit of fear and uncertainty in the market as people wait to see who will be in government. Now we know, and now we know that the government has a slim majority, things will start to pick up again.
Of course, the ongoing supply/demand imbalance issue will be a key one in the next five years. If supply goes up drastically - which seems unlikely - then house prices will even out. If demand continues to hugely outstrip supply, as seems much more likely, then prices will continue to rise, particularly in London and other major cities.
Totally agree Emma - this was always bound to happen. The more pressing problem is solving the housing crisis that everyone in government seems to think isn't happening. After the last government presided over the lowest level of housebuilding since the 30s, I don't hold out much hope for that changing anytime soon. Lewis is a good MP and was doing a decent job as housing minister, so I dearly hope he will push housing towards the top of the government's agenda.
And in other news, the Pope's still Catholic.
This was always going to happen - it happens before every election. Pre-election slowdown followed by post-election boom.
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