Most owners believe their house price is static or falling - survey

A survey of over 2,300 home owners across the UK suggests market sentiment is mixed, with most doubting house prices have risen.

The survey was conducted just before this week’s warnings about the growing threat of a Coronavirus second wave.

Only one in 11 owners believed their property had actually increased in value since the Coronavirus outbreak.

Some 48 per cent - almost half - think the value of their homes has not changed in recent months, and around a quarter expect there has been some decrease in value, although most people feel this reduction will have been minor.

Around 85 per cent suggested they had undertaken some form of home improvement during the spring lockdown.

However the survey - conducted for Aviva - suggests that owners could be over-estimating the value of their properties by around 22 per cent. 

The 2,318 owners were asked to estimate the value of their properties, which were then compared with the official average from localised data in the government’s UK House Price Index.

In the north east and north west of England, owners over-estimated by no less than 39 and 44 per cent respectively. 

This tendency to over-value appeared from respondents in every region with the exception of London, where owners typically under-estimated their home’s value by around five per cent.