<p><span>Savills has upgraded its UK house price forecast for this year to 4% growth from 0%, with the government’s Budget measures “significantly” reducing downside risks in the middle of the year.</span></p> <p><span>The property group said housing transactions were set to reach 1.4 million this year before “falling back to a norm” of 1.2 million by 2023. And new forecasts from Savills for the five years from 2021 to 2025 anticipate total house price growth of 21.1%.<b> </b></span></p> <p><span>With the government extending both the stamp duty holiday and furlough scheme in its Budget, Lucian Cook, Savills head of residential research, said the chancellor had markedly reduced the “downside risks” for the middle of 2021. The recovering economy would aid house price rises towards the end of 2021, he added.</span></p> <p><span>Savills’ reforecasts follow a surprisingly robust market in 2020 with house prices increasing 7.3%. The group noted that this was the first time in modern history that prices had risen during a recession, “as people’s desire to move home outweighed the uncertainty surrounding jobs and finances”. </span></p> <p><span>Savills expects markets which are the furthest from London to experience the strongest five-year growth in house prices. North West England and Yorkshire and the …