Confidence in housing market hits two year high A new survey from Halifax found that 52pc of people are predicting an increase in prices over the next twelve months, while only 12pc are forecasting a drop in prices. That meant the mortgage lender's confidence tracker stood at 40 last month, the highest level since April 2011 - when the index was started - and up from 33 at the end of the previous quarter in March. One in four people now expect British house prices to climb by at least 5pc in the coming year, while some 23pc of respondent's to the Halifax survey said the next 12 months would be a good time to buy or sell a property, up from 16pc in March. "Sentiment regarding the outlook for house prices has improved markedly over the past quarter, continuing the trend seen since late 2012," said Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax. This increase in optimism is partly due to house prices being stronger than expected in the first half of the year. Nonetheless, the market still faces substantial headwinds with, for example, house prices remaining above the historical average in relation to earnings. Such factors are likely to prevent a sharp acceleration in house prices.