More people want house prices to fall than rise

A new poll commissioned by the BBC has discovered that more people want house prices to fall than want them to rise.

The ICM survey reveals that only one fifth of people want house prices to rise - fewer than the number of people who want them to fall.

The poll of 1,005 people found that only 22 per cent said they wanted prices to go up while 28 per cent said they wanted house prices to fall. Forty-six per cent of people who responded to the poll said they wanted house prices to stay the same

Forty-six per cent of people who responded to the poll said they wanted house prices to stay the same. The findings cast doubt on whether the political and economic damage done by falling prices is as serious as has been feared.

Respondents were asked if a fall in house prices of more than 10 per cent would make them more likely to cut back on household spending such as clothes, leisure and groceries.

More than 60 per cent of people said it would either make no difference or would make them likely to spend more.

Only a minority – 38 per cent - said it would make them more likely to cut back.

Nearly a third of homeowners have no mortgage on their homes - meaning no risk of negative equity.

The poll was commissioned after makers of a new BBC2 TV series The Truth About Property came across a surprisingly large number of people who wanted house prices to drop.

The first part of the series investigates the extent to which Britain's homeowners are "crashproof" - meaning they could withstand or even benefit from price falls.

Economists are concerned that if prices fall too quickly it may knock consumer confidence, already at its lowest for 15 years, leading to reduced spending that could worsen the current economic slowdown.