Despite the fact that house prices in England and Wales have increased each month for the last eight months, and are in fact 8.4% higher than a year ago, they are only now back to levels seen some four years ago in August 2006. This was 12 months before the credit crisis struck home and perfectly illustrates how the UK property market, and indeed the worldwide property market, suffered during the aftermath of the credit crunch and the worldwide recession.

However, the relatively upbeat performance over the last year in the UK has been very patchy with London seeing the largest increase of 12.2% while house prices in the north-east of England were up by just 0.7% over the same period. While this is the good news for the UK property sector there are major concerns of a slowdown in the second half of 2010 and indeed many believe that the UK property sector could have a very troubled 2011.

Earlier this week it was reported that estate agents in England and Wales have seen a reduction in buying interest and an increase in property sellers. As a consequence, it is highly likely that there will be short-term pressure on UK house prices and indeed any caution in the marketplace, together with the difficult economic outlook, could become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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