2013-The end of the slump?
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) have stated that they believe house prices will not get back to the levels they were seen to peak at in 2007 until 2013.
Their predictions could mean that an estimated 2.5 million homeowners could face negative equity.
It has been claimed by some that they price drops are an indication of quite how overpriced the market was.
If the CEBR predictions are correct then that would mean the value of the average home would have dropped to £157,058 by the end of 2009 which means a decrease in value of approximately £50,000 from a year ago.
In an interview with the BBC last month, Nationwide chief Graham Beale said he was not expecting any signs of a recovery in the market until 2010. He also said the pattern of price falls next year would be similar to this year.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently claimed that any short-term prediction of house prices was "futile" before there was clarity after the recent volatility in the market.
But the lenders' group also joined an emerging market consensus that prices would continue to fall until the end of next year. Other lenders are expected to give their forecasts for the coming year in November and December.
The CEBR suggested that the lack of will among banks to lend to each other, and therefore to homeowners was a key factor in determining house prices.
Nearly a third of UK properties for sale have been on the market for more than six months, and 12% have been unsold since the start of the year.
This was seen the most in Aberystwyth, where 70% of properties for sale had been on the market for more than six months, followed by Merthyr Tydfil (62%), Rochdale (52%), Shrewsbury (49%) and Oldham (48%).
In the major cities, 41% of properties for sale in Liverpool have been without a buyer for more than six months compared with 25% in Bristol.
www.news.bbc.co.uk
(Monday, October 27, 2008)