House prices are expected to dip before they rise again during the next five years.

The forecast for Brighton and Hove appears in independent consumer magazine Your Mortgage. It believes property prices in the city will rise an average of 4.3 per cent in the next five years. But only after drops of 4.9 per cent next year and a further 0.6 per cent in 2007.

The magazine's experts say the market will pick up again in 2008 with an expected rise of 6.1 per cent and a further 2.6 per cent upturn the following year.

The South-East is expected to experience a 1.2 per cent rise during the same period. The figures are based on projected income levels, employment forecasts and interest rate rises.

Andrew Stuart, editor of the magazine, said the UK had seen massive house price inflation for the last few years but the trend was starting to slow down. He said: "These latest house price projections for the Brighton and Hove region are encouraging but do not reflect what is happening in other parts of the country.

"Our latest predictions show property prices in some areas are continuing to level out but elsewhere there will be depreciations in prices.

"Brighton and Hove seems to have side-stepped this trend with house prices predicted to rise by the end of 2008.

June 28, 2005