Nationwide house price index since September (unadjusted)
Sep 09 - 322.8
Oct 09 - 323.2
Nov 09 - 324.7
Dec 09 - 323.4
Jan 10 - 326.1
Feb 10 - 321.8
So it is clear that prices have not moved since september. The bounce of 2009 started in March (feb index = 294.7) and ended in september. It loooks like January and Feb 2010 cancel each other.
A point for reference is that the peak was 368.5 in September 2007. The index now is 12.7% below this,
House prices did not recover that much last year (except for 2 million + houses in central london)
The problem at the moment is that there is no market as sellers are protected by low interest rates and are still under the illusion that houses are worth 2007 prices.
It is very hard to sell or buy a house. This point is missed by the press and government.
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This 'difficulty' to buy/sell can be measured by comparing the number of houses on the market with the volume of sales. Can you draw a graph to show this is higher recently?
ReplyDeleteCan one go short the house price index?
ReplyDeleteFor going short on house prices... There is spread betting if you want to give your money away. One example here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.igindex.co.uk/spread-betting/house-prices.html
David; It would be nice but it is hard to find historical data on this. However, low volumes, negative equity and prices being too high for first time buyers mean that the market is not in a good state.
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