How bad can it be? Predictions for 2023 have been universally miserable. Even if inflation and interest rates stop rising, there’s no pundit out there who believes consumers, homebuyers, investors or business owners will be cracking open the Mayerling brut rosé recommended below in 12 months’ time and saying: ‘Phew, that was tough but I feel great about 2024, so pull my cracker and I’ll put my paper hat on.’
And I’m not here to buck the trend. We’re in for a long haul of budgets squeezed and projects deferred. Let me nevertheless rebut one doom strand with a plea for common sense, provoked by a Telegraph piece headed: ‘Why house prices will nosedive in 2023… Property experts predict a plunge as buyers are priced out and sellers panic.’
Top marks to the unknown subeditor for ‘nosedive’, ‘plunge’ and ‘panic’ in one strap. But what are we really talking about? Nationwide’s UK house price graphs, taking Q1 2020 as 100, peaked in Q3 2022 at around 127 for houses and 118 for flats: irrational surges since the onset of the pandemic, before a Q4 droop.
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