Woolwich mortgages finds homeowner confidence at six-year low

Fewer homeowners believe house prices will rise than at any time for more than six years, according to the Woolwich consumer confidence index.

However, while confidence in house prices fell for the seventh month in a row in December, the decline was just one per cent. This represents the smallest fall in confidence since the drop-off began.

The most recent results from the survey show that just 39 per cent of homeowners now feel their property will continue to increase in value. This is least confident people have been since the Woolwich started its consumer confidence index in March 1998.

But there is a brighter future on the way, the bank predicts.

"Last month we predicted that confidence would start to stabilise as we enter into the New Year, these latest figures suggest that this may be starting to happen," said Andy Gray, head of mortgages at Barclays and The Woolwich.

"We expect that confidence will remain low for the next month or so with the potential for a slight pick up in spring 2005 as the traditional house buying period starts up," he added.