You are here: cherry > Press releases for May 2011 > Comments from Nick Hopkinson, Director of property company, PPR Estates, on today’s Nationwide House Price Index for May

27 May 2011

“House prices are still falling in real terms by at least 5% this year so far when you factor in inflation. I fear that real house prices will continue falling while the austerity cuts and household incomes continue to come under pressure till at least 2012. Any growth this month in the pricing data from Nationwide is simply correcting falls last month at best and are therefore no real comfort to potential sellers. The monthly lending statistics from one lender are currently based on such a small number of transactions as to not be reliable in terms of extrapolating any meaningful trend insights. “It’s also quite possible that any recent growth in lending by Nationwide is more a reflection of tighter credit criteria being applied and therefore loans being made to more affluent clients buying bigger properties rather than any overall increase in house prices. Most buyers are still struggling to get realistic finance and the necessary deposits are still unobtainable for many. The impact of the Credit Crunch and austerity Britain has many more months and possibly years to run before we will see any sustained house price recovery, when you look behind the advertising headline statistics on house prices of the major lenders.” If you would like to speak to Nick, you can contact him on 07768 144497.

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