Property still represents a low-risk investment despite predictions of market turbulence, real estate platform easyMoney has insisted, with its research showing house prices falling in only four years in the last half-century.

easyMoney analysed historic UK house price data from the Land Registry going back over the last five decades and found 46 years out of 50 had registered positive growth.

The largest among the four years of decline came in the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. In January 2008, the average house price was £185,782 but by the end of the year, it had fallen to £160,954 (December), a 13.4% reduction in just 12 months.
The other notable decline came following the financial downturn of 1992, when house prices fell by 5.8% between January and December.

The only other years when the market saw a drop in value were 1990 and 2012, although the decreases of 0.6% and 0.2% respectively were far less severe than both 1992 and 2008.

In contrast, 2002 ranks as the strongest year for property prices, with the average UK house price increasing by 28.8% between January and December. Across all 46 years of positive property price movement, there are also just three years – 1991, 1995 and 2010 – when this rate of positive house price growth sat below the one percent threshold.

“Over the last 50 years it’s fair to say that the performance of the UK property market has been quite remarkable,” said Jason Ferrando, easyMoney CEO. “It’s not just the positive growth seen but also the consistency of this growth year in, year out, that has made real estate a very low-risk area of investment.

“In fact, it seems that nothing short of a cataclysmic economic downturn is required to bring about a reduction in property prices and even these periods of negative growth are short lived.”

Ferrando added: “So while the market may be currently subject to a great deal of fear mongering due to a monthly reduction in the rate of house price growth, it’s highly unlikely that come December this year property values will have dipped below their current levels.”