Britons have taken a one-way bet on house prices that could be creating bubbles in some parts of the country, research suggests.
Rapid growth in house prices is expected to continue over the next two years, according to a survey by Genworth Financial, the mortgage insurance group. It said that 72pc of respondents expected prices to keep rising until the end of 2016.
People living in London and the South of England were much more likely to believe that prices in their area would increase. The survey showed 80pc of residents in the capital thought prices would rise, compared with just 62pc of people in the North.
Rapidly increasing house prices have also made it harder for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.
More than four-fifths of the 1,000 people surveyed said saving for a deposit remained the key obstacle to owning a home. Genworth said 79pc of adults needed help from their parents to obtain a mortgage. “With most households anticipating that house prices are going to continue to rise, while wage levels will not, the difficulties they face in saving for a deposit are not going to go away,” said Simon Crone, the vice president of Genworth.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/houseprices/10808014/House-price-confidence-inflating-bubble.html