House prices end year marginally higher

Rightmove says prices continue to hold steady but warns of "fragmented and uncertain" 2012.

Estate agent website rightmove says house prices have ended 2011 slightly higher than a year ago. But it warns that next year will be “fragmented and uncertain”.

House prices in England and Wales were up 1.5% on December 2010, but down 2.7% on November, a second successive monthly fall. It says new sellers’ asking prices fell by 2.7% in December but the average time a property is on the market is broadly flat at around 90 days.

Regionally, the biggest annual falls have been in Yorkshire and Humberside (down 3.6%), the north of England (3%) and the north west (2%). London continues to buck the national trend, and to some extent prop up the overall average figure, with prices increasing by an average of 6.4%.

Rightmove says it expects asking prices to rise by around 2% in 2012, due to a shortage of new properties coming onto the market. But it says sellers must know their local market as selling at too high a price will only lead to “stagnation”.

It believes there are micro-markets within regions, with noticeable price differences within a few miles.

Overall, rightmove is forecasting prices to “fall, or at best stand still” in 2012. And it says that the outcome of the Eurozone crisis will also have a potentially significant part to play if it squeezes the availability of mortgage credit.

More: Why house prices have yet to crash | Why house price forecasts are dangerous

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