MortgageIQ

Latest sets of figures showing house prices falling do not reflect the actions of ‘lifestyle movers’, a property consultancy has claimed, or the inevitability that prices will rise again.

Nationwide’s data indicates that house prices fell by 1.9 per cent from July and by 10.5 per cent year-on-year last month, while Halifax’s statistics suggest that prices dipped by 1.8 per cent on a month-to-month basis and by 10.9 per cent from August 2007.

Head of development research attributed this trend to the ongoing dearth in mortgage finance, but noted that these two indexes only take into account those people who have to buy and sell, not those who move as a lifestyle choice.

He added that what a lot of reports have also failed to observe is that there is still a shortage of housing in Britain and that once people start wanting to buy homes again then demand will once more outstrip supply, pushing prices back upwards.

He also asserted that the government can do little to change things in the housing market and advocated that it instead focus on improving mortgage market conditions, as well as urging the Bank of England to lower the base rate as soon as possible.

Home vendors can expect to sell their property for far more if it has a garden, according to a new survey, due to the immense demand for this amenity among buyers at present.

On average, homeowners value their gardens alone at more than £9,000, Yorkshire Bank’s poll revealed, with those Britons who do not own one willing to expend around a third of their annual income on having one attached to their new property.

Unsurprisingly, the further up the Northern Ireland property ladder the person is, the more willing they are to splash out on a garden, with the average first-time buyer in Northern Ireland prepared to pay just £4,361 on top for one, when established homeowners will pay £11,932 on average.

Regionally, people place the most value on gardens in the south-east, being typically willing to spend £16,363 on one, whereas poor weather means that they are least in demand in the north-east, where buyers would on average only pay £4,463 extra.

Yorkshire Bank’s head of retail advised homeowners looking to add value to their home in the wake of the Northern Ireland housing market slowdown that investing in their garden could help to push up the value of their property.