House prices are forecasted to grow next year in 2017 in all regions except in the capital. London is positioned to experience a decline. Some areas will gain slightly while others are due to surprise some experts. Overall, the UK housing market is set to see increases for the coming year.

According to Knight Frank, London will experience a net decline of 1% by the end of 2017. While that is a significant decline, the capital has seen continued growth, even throughout the recession. Steady growth evolved into property prices that were far out of reach for most buyers. This pushed hopeful home buyers into surrounding areas with acceptable commutes into the city. Therefore strong demand has converted out of the London.

While London will have less robust growth than in years past, the South West region is expected to see the strongest increases next year. Following behind the South West area is that of East of England, the East area, and the West Midlands according to Knight Frank.

The UK housing market has been resilient to the expected gloom and doom forecasted for the market following the Brexit vote. Demand for property remained high despite the Brexit vote due mostly to the fact that lenders offered historically low interest rates on mortgages and remortgages.

Liam Bailey, the Global Head of Research at Knight Frank, remarked, “Both the London and wider UK housing markets outperformed expectations following the referendum. After a sharp dip in confidence just after the vote, conditions have improved into the autumn.

“On most measures the mainstream UK market continues to perform strongly – with annual price growth likely to end this year at five per cent. The ripple of price growth from London continued in 2016 and we expect the end of year position to be that the East of England and the South East will both see stronger growth than that in Greater London.

He added, “The ripple of price growth from London continued in 2016 and we expect the end of year position to be that the East of England and the South East will both see stronger growth than that in Greater London. Looking into next year we believe that the slowdown in prices which has been evident in central London over the past 12-months will spread to the wider region, with Greater London prices down marginally in 2017.”