Economic concerns hit housing market

Latest figures released by the Government show house prices in Yorkshire have fallen 3.6 per cent in the past 12 months – the second-highest drop in England, behind the North West.

The drop in value is in sharp contrast to regions further south, with prices in the East, South East and West Midlands all continuing to rise. London saw a year-on-year increase of 5.5 per cent, meaning the average house price across the country as a whole actually rose 0.7 per cent from 2010.

The grim regional picture was reinforced by a new housing market study released yesterday by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which found there were 52 per cent more surveyors in the Yorkshire region who said house prices fell last month than those who reported a rise.

The outlook for the housing market in the region also looks unstable, with the RICS reporting a steep fall in house sales in Yorkshire last month.

Surveyors also reported a significant drop in new buyers registering with agents, suggesting demand is on the wane with many people increasingly concerned about the state of the economy and their own job security.

Again, the picture was markedly different in large parts of the South, with buyer demand increasing and surveyors reporting that prices are on the increase.

Across the country, the number of homes being put up for sale rose slightly during March.

But one Yorkshire housing agent warned this was largely due to people losing their homes after being unable to meet their mortgage payments.

John Francis, of Crapper and Haigh in Sheffield, said: “The market remains very difficult at present with lower viewer numbers than this time last year.

“Whilst sales instructions increased over the last month this is largely fuelled by repossessions.”

A study by HML earlier this year predicted there would be almost 2,500 repossessions in Yorkshire this year – an increase of 0.25 per cent compared with 2010.