The pick up in activity levels and prices over the final quarter has created optimism that values will continue to rise slowly over the year ahead. The recovery in London is set to continue and spread to the Southeast over the year.
Activity levels held up quite strongly over the final weeks of 2005 compared to previous years. The scale of new buyer registrations over the next few weeks will be an important indication of what sort of year we can expect for the market.
The current level of growth is unsustainable over the longer term as house prices in the capital still remain relatively high.
Whilst activity levels may have improved over the autumn of 2005 on the back of more realistic pricing, it does not automatically follow that prices will start to rise.