Is the glass half empty?

The way in which house price movements are being reported in the national newspapers provides an interesting study in market sentiment. For some, the housing market remains strong and property, as an investment, looks like a pretty good bet.

Others are rather more pessimistic and are looking for a slowdown at the very least. Some are even looking to a house price crash resembling that seen in the UK in the late 1980s.

The Telegraph pick up on recently released figures from the Halifax to note that property prices in Northern Ireland have risen by an astonishing 50% in the past 12 months. Indeed, the last quarter of 2007 saw a rise of almost 9% in the value of an average property in Northern Ireland.

The chief executive of the Halifax is reported as suggesting that UK house prices will continue to remain strong, partly due to a lack of supply of housing stock.

The Times, however, take a different approach. They report on information produced by Nationwide and comments from the Chief Executive of Nationwide, Graham Beale. Mr Beale predicts that there will be a downturn in the UK housing market, with prices set to grow by between 5% and 8% in 2007 as a whole.

This lower than might be expected growth is predicted as it is felt that there will be a slowdown in the second half of the year, brought about by increased borrowing costs as a result of recent interest rate rises.