“As we move through the last quarter of the year we predict that the strongest growth for 2015 will have been in the engine rooms of the South East (5.8%) and the East of England (7.1%), locations which benefit from their proximity to London and prime commuter catchments.

"Scotland is also showing good growth (5.8%) with renewed market vigour following last year’s referendum and May’s election.”

“The five year outlook sees these three regions having some of the strongest growth, although Greater London will strengthen again throughout the time period (19.8% 2015-2019 inclusive). The volumes in PCL have shown a distinct slowdown over the past year, although we still anticipate price growth in 2015 (2.5%). Such a thin market shows much greater volatility and has no doubt been impacted by tax changes following a period of strong and sustained growth.

“Other areas of interest include the South West. From our Housing Futures research we know that there is a huge aspiration to live there – our national survey showed that 15.6% of respondents who said they had plans to move within the next five years wanted to live in the South West, particularly for retirement and lifestyle reasons. This trend is reinforced by the 2014 ONS data which pointed to the South West being the region with the highest homeworking rate in the UK, at 17.1%. That said, our Housing Futures survey also showed that taking into account all respondents, and analysing by age, that the South West was one of the areas that would experience a large exodus of people between the ages of 18-29, indicating that older cohorts have perhaps greater flexibility in their working styles.

“Now turning to infrastructure, the benefits of which can clearly be seen with the uplifts in values witnessed across Central London off the back of Crossrail in places such as Farringdon and Shepherd’s Bush, amongst others. Looking outside of London, the electrification of the Great Western line (first stages due to open in 2017) between London, Oxford, Newbury, Bristol and Cardiff will improve both journey times and capacity, ultimately ensuring greater connectivity for these locations and their hinterlands. Staying in the South East, Oxford and Bicester will benefit from the train line from Marylebone being brought into Oxford at the end of October 2015, with Oxford Parkway providing a large, commuter friendly station for London.

“The cities across the UK are investing heavily in public realm and connectivity. The opening of Birmingham New Street station is a great example of redevelopment and regeneration of a city gateway. The Northern Powerhouse is a much-used phrase, however, immediate change is unlikely due to the long term nature of infrastructure improvements. That said, city region autonomy will for the first time allow genuine management of local transport services and infrastructure - which will certainly have a positive impact in the medium to longer term.

“Other themes of note for 2016 are the London Mayoral elections in May 2016. Sadiq Khan will stand for Labour, Zac Goldsmith for the Conservatives and Caroline Pidgeon for the Liberal Democrats. London’s housing is a focus for all the candidates, although no details of their plans have as yet been disclosed. In addition, with the US Federal Reserve now indicating the potential to move rates in December / early 2016, we can expect the Bank of England (BoE) to follow suit in the first half of next year. There is real concern about the rate increases, albeit in incremental shifts, most especially on interest-only mortgages. Although the vast majority of recent borrowing (75%-80%) has been at fixed rates there will be some who struggle with changing payment requirements.

“Another signal from the Chancellor has been an increase in the BoE’s powers around the Buy to Let market. No detail is as yet known, however, adding further limiters to the market, in addition to those seen in the July 2015 summer budget, has the potential to pause this element of the market. Finally, the EU Referendum will take place before the end of 2017. The lobbying has already begun and will escalate over the coming months. Although an immediate and direct impact on the majority of the housing market is unlikely, if inward investment slows due to uncertainty that will have a knock on effect on wages and demand in those areas which benefit most from our EU trade agreements.”