Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: 2015 housing recovery predicted

Improvements to the major banks' balance sheets should lead to them loosening their strict lending criteria, enabling more people to buy a home.

The previous upturn in the housing market was caused by a mismatch between supply and demand, but the recovery petered out as economic uncertainty caused potential buyers to sit on their hands, while those who wanted to press ahead with a purchase continued to face problems raising the mortgage finance they needed.

But CEBR said with just 130,000 new homes built in 2010, around half the level needed to keep pace with the growing number of households, prices should increase by 16% between 2011 and 2015, the equivalent of a gain of around 4% a year.

The recovery will be more marked in London, with demand from international buyers, as the pound remains weak, set to push up the cost of housing in the capital by around 2% a year more than across the UK as a whole.