HOUSE PRICES are on course to DOUBLE in the next 15 years – eye-watering official forecasts have revealed.
The Treasury’s independent economic experts have predicted average house price growth of 4.8 per cent per year between now and 2022.
This means the typical house in England will rocket in value in by 26 per cent to almost £300,000 by 2022. Prices in London will soar to an AVERAGE of £600,000.
And economists yesterday said if the 4.8 per cent forecast – buried in this week’s Budget paper – continues prices will double from the current £233,000 by 2032.
The OBR said its longer-term projections “assumed” growth of over 4 per cent, given the small number of homes being built and the difficulties for buyers wanting a mortgage.
Gerard Lyons, Boris Johnson’s former economic adviser, urged the Government to deliver on its promise to build far more homes – or face a generation being locked out of the market.
He told the Sun: “The good thing about the Autumn Statement was that the Government set up an infrastructure fund and had a focus on infrastructure and housing.
“But housing was barely mentioned in the Budget this week.”
“And when one looks at underlying forecast its set to be 4.8 % for the next five years. That would imply house prices double in only 15 years. Far more needs to be done to accelerate the pace and scale of housebuilding across the country.”
The OBR said house price inflation would be 6.5 per cent this year – slowing to 4 percent in 2018, 4.4 per cent in 2019, 4.5 per cent in 2020 and 4.6 per cent in 2021.
It blamed the low numbers of homes being built and the “tighter” credit conditions.
OBR chief Robert Chote said: “The availability of secured credit to households has fallen since the start of 2016.”
Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said: “After seven years of failure on housing under the Conservatives, this forecast by the OBR shows how prices are set to soar further out of reach for hard-pressed Brits.
“Home-ownership has fallen as young people on ordinary incomes are locked out of buying a home, yet this week Ministers have shown they have no long-term plan to fix our broken housing market.
“The Chancellor spoke for an hour in the midst of a housing crisis and the word ‘housing’ didn’t even pass his lips. This is a Government out of ideas on housing.”