House prices will avoid a dangerous bubble

House price expectations have taken off since the start of the year, and that raises the risk of a self-reinforcing bubble forming. However, there are no signs that lenders are rapidly loosening credit conditions on the back of higher house prices, and that argues against a repeat of a mid-2000s credit cycle. Rather, rising mortgage interest rates, a stabilisation in down payments and stretched affordability mean that house price gains will slow over the second half of the year.