The research, which was conducted in November 2006 among 1,300 mortgage intermediaries, revealed that only 10% of brokers expect house prices to remain static in 2007, while 85% expect house prices to be higher by the end of the year.
The research did, however, show that, on the whole, brokers expect the rate of price increases to fall. While 17% of brokers expect faster price rises, 43% of those questioned think that prices will increase at a lower rate and 38% think 2007 will see a similar rate of increase as 2006.
When questioned about the impact of recent interest rate increases, only 15% of brokers think that it has affected the self-cert sector, whereas 40% think that it has affected the buy-to-let market. In addition, around a third reported increased business in the self-cert and the buy-to-let sectors during the last four months of 2006.
Keith Astill, managing director at UCB Home Loans, commented: Latest figures from Nationwide show that average house prices increased by 9.6% in the year to the end of November somewhat higher than many people imagined would be the case, particularly when we consider the fact that the base rate has now risen to 5%.
He continued: However, despite the fact that rate rises have had some effect on the self-certification and buy-to-let sectors, the majority of brokers are still reporting that business has been growing.
