Skyrocketing house prices can probably be blamed on a shortage of homes coming onto the market, according to the National Association of Estate Agents.
And the squeeze is piling pressure on key workers' budgets in many areas.

The estate agents' body said its members across the country were reporting that too few new homes were available to meet demand.

Its chief executive, Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy, said: "No one seems to know why quality properties are in short supply at the moment – it may be that people who don't have an urgent need to move are holding on to see how much their property increases in value.

"But this is counter-productive if they are planning to trade up, as the price of their next home will be rising even more rapidly. In some areas there are several purchasers chasing every property and this is pushing prices up."

The problem has been noted by estate agents as far afield as Cornwall, East Anglia and the East Midlands, the north west and north east, the association said.

As Housing Today reported last week, the House Builders' Federation warned that, for the first time, the number of households in England is now higher than the 2.1m total of homes.

The news comes as the Halifax reported that house prices had not risen as sharply as indicated by last week's announcement by the Nationwide.

The Nationwide said that in April the price of a home increased by 3.4 per cent on the previous month (Housing Today, 2 May). But the Halifax, which uses a larger sample, said prices had only increased by 0.7 per cent. Increases had slowed for the second month in a row, it said.

It is believed Nationwide's figures reflect the high-demand areas of the south east, while the Halifax's figures are based on a broader geographical spread.

Source

Housing Today