A subdued end to the year for housing

Housing market activity and house price growth showed few signs of improvement at the end of 2019. Indeed, activity has, if anything, been cooling. That partly reflects economic and political uncertainty. But the big picture is that high house prices are constraining housing demand, while the interest rate environment is unlikely to become much more supportive. As a result, looking ahead, even if the election brings some certainty for buyers in 2020, we expect conditions to stay subdued – preventing a meaningful rise in either transactions or prices.