17 Quotes by Fionnuala Earley

There is a supportive environment for prices. Nationwide expects the market to remain fairly stable in the next year.

The cooling in prices in April was not unexpected given the surge in March. However, the underlying picture remains reasonably healthy as demand conditions have remained quite firm.

We think that it is far too early to say that the market has reached a turning point and that prices will continue to accelerate from here.

This will clearly hit consumers' pockets - and their state of mind.

While there is uncertainty about the economy at present we still expect the next move in interest rates will be down and that this is likely early in 2006. But while the market responded quite swiftly to the rate cut in August, we do not expect a cut to cause annual house price inflation to accelerate back up to levels seen in early 2005.

Estate agents have consistently reported increased buyer interest over the last few months, which should help to support the market going forward,

Estate agents are reporting increasing buyer interest and that buyers and sellers are reaching agreement on price more readily,

Rather than seeing a rapid and significant correction in house prices as predicted by some, we are more likely to see a continuing smooth slowdown as lower price inflation attracts more demand, and thus liquidity, into the market.

Our expectation is that house price growth will remain firmly in low single digits in 2006 as the economy recovers.