PROPERTY prices will continue to rise next year but are unlikely to reach the double digit levels of the past 12 months, a new report claims.

House Buy Fast’s annual market review forecasts prices will surge by around 4% as the post-Covid boom extends into 2022.

The prediction is outlined in a report released today.

The report’s author Jonathan Rolande, the founder of House Buy Fast, says: “Our review has found the market proved not only to be resilient but it has exceeded all expectations. Something which surprised expert forecasters and ordinary buyers alike. Buyers and investors showed they had, almost bizarrely, not less but actually more confidence in the market in difficult times. Many forecasts suggest house prices will carry on rising, if at more modest levels than last year. We predict there will be an increase of at least four per cent next year which is great news for property owners but will present more barriers especially to first time buyers. Another key issue is a shortage of supply which is likely to exist for several years”

Outlining the key questions the next year holds for the market, Mr Rolande added: “We all want to know how long the current market will continue? Will there be a further boom? Or could there be a crash? It has always been difficult to forecast these things. But perhaps this year it is more difficult than ever. We’ve put together this review to look at some of the events in property over the last year or so, to briefly consider what might have happened and to try and look ahead at where the property market might be going over the next year. And whilst there was no crystal ball available, we have used data, previous events and 30 years of accumulated ‘property market instinct’ to try to predict what might be happening.”