House prices tipped to plummet as potential buyers go broke

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PHOTO: House prices

House prices are being tipped to plummet more than 10 percent thanks to COVID-19.

The prediction – chilling for homeowners, a silver lining of the pandemic for others – comes from economics researcher Infometrics.

Forecaster Gareth Kiernan says the lockdown will be followed by months, if not years, of negative and slow growth. Many will lose their jobs, and anyone looking to sell a house will struggle to find a buyer.

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He told Newshub house prices will hold steady for now, but by the end of 2021, they’ll be down 11 percent.

“In the first instance, homeowners are probably not going to be particularly affected partly because the Government’s got the mortgage holiday scheme in place. And so for the next five or six months, that’s going to limit the number of people who are going to be potentially forced to sell their house because they might have lost one or both of their incomes with the downturn that’s occurring.