Housing boom over

The housing boom is finally over, according to a property website.

12:34 16 August 2004

The housing boom is finally over, according to a property website.

Hometrack is predicting that following the recent rises in interest rates, the price of property will now start to fall.

The website also claims that the market has turned with prices easing by 0.1 per cent during July, the first drop in house prices for more than a year.

In addition to this the number of properties coming on to the market has risen, whereas there has been a "market reduction" in the number of people looking to buy a new home.

However, the website has stressed that it does not expect there to be a market crash, merely fluctuations between small monthly rises and falls for the rest of the year.

Hometrack's housing economist, John Wriglesworth, said: "Seldom in recent years have so many statistics relating to the health of the housing market all told the same story: the boom is over."

He continued by saying: "The recent hike in interest rates, scaremongering speeches by the Bank of England governor, as well as over-hyped newspaper articles have all combined to bring the housing market train to the buffers."

Hometrack said it expected to see further price falls going forward, though not by more than about 0.4 per cent a month.