Recession to hit property market for "a long time"

The housing market will continue to be affected by the recession for "a long time" despite reported increases in property prices, it has been claimed.

Latest figures from the Land Registry show that the average house price now stands at just under £160,000 after further increases of 0.6 per cent in October.

However, year-on-year property values are still down and the recent increases can be attributed to seasonality, according to property website Briffy.com.

David Amstell, founder of the site, said the recession will continue to severely hamper the housing market throughout 2010.

"We are still seeing redundancies and we are still seeing companies going out of business so, as long as that happens, things are going to continue to go down," he added.

The average property price in London also increased by 1.4 per cent in October and now stands at £317,601. This is the sixth consecutive price rise for the city, according to the Land Registry figures.

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