The UK's mortgage customers are more optimistic about house prices in the coming months, according to a new industry survey.
In Knight Frank/Markit's House Price Sentiment Index (HPSI), the organisations highlighted that borrowers are showing more confidence in house prices after Bank of England hinted that the rate rise is now off the agenda.
According to the data, the rate of decline in house prices slowed this month, with home values perceived to have been on a downward trend since July last year.
Around a fifth of the 1,500 households surveyed this month said they thought the value of their property had fallen, while only eight per cent believed that prices had risen.
The resulting HPSI figure of 44.7 is up significantly from the 42.1 seen in October, which is the highest since July last year, though any figure under 50 indicates that prices are falling.
Commenting on the data, Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said the "striking divergence" between income groups in their outlook for future house prices reflects the "different strata" of the housing market, which are moving at varying speeds.
"The future HPSI has hovered around 50 for seven months now, indicating that there will be little substantial growth in house prices over the next year. We forecast that prices will achieve growth of just 1.3 per cent this year before falling five per cent in 2012," she predicted.
She added that the upturn in confidence among mortgage borrowers about future property prices may well have been prompted by increasing signs from the Bank of England that it will keep the base rate pegged at record lows for some time, which is good news for those on variable rate deals.
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