Author: Marketing

House prices have climbed by more than a fifth in the past five years, boosted by unprecedented buyer demand and increased household savings after the pandemic.

Asking prices rose by more than 8pc in the year to February, according to property website Zoopla, and have jumped by 21.5pc since 2017.

House price growth has been propped up by a chronic shortage of homes for sale in the past two years, with the average property in the UK now priced at £245,200.

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Homeowners have enjoyed huge price growth and unprecedented competition amongst buyers since the property market reopened after the first lockdown in the summer of 2020.

Homes which list for sale have been snapped up by desperate buyers within weeks. Almost a third more sales were agreed in the first three months of 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to Zoopla.

The company reported buyer appetite remained “unseasonably strong”, despite predictions the market would begin to cool this year.

Gráinne Gilmore, of Zoopla, said: “Demand is strongest for family houses and more than twice as high as usual for this time of the year.

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“But demand is up across nearly all property types, indicating that those thinking of moving are in pole position to sell.”

Buyers have rushed to purchase whilst they can still access historically cheap mortgage deals and before interest rates rise further. The Bank of England earlier this month made its third consecutive increase to the Bank Rate, to 0.75pc, and further rises are expected.

Despite soaring buyer demand, the supply of homes for sale in February was still 42pc lower than the five-year average. Zoopla predicted supply would build in the coming months, but warned it would not reverse the extreme demand imbalance this year.

Ms Gilmore added: “The increased economic headwinds, including the rising costs of living and increasing mortgage rates, property price growth will start to moderate as we move through the second half of 2022.”

By Rachel Mortimer

Source: Telegraph

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The average price of a property coming onto the market came to £354,564 in March, shows the latest house price index from Rightmove.

This 1.7% monthly increase, which compares to 2.3% in February, is the largest recorded for March since spring 2004.

It also means that as of this month, house prices grew 10.4% annually, the fastest growth seen for this metric since June 2014.

The index adds that all regions and counties bar London and Scotland experienced annual increases of 10% or more, which went up 6.3% and 8%, respectively.

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Rightmove director of property data Tim Bannister says that, with there being twice as many buyers as sellers in the market currently, “the imbalance between high buyer demand compared to low available property supply is the greatest that we have ever seen for the start of a spring market.”

The data also shows that 22% of property deals are being agreed on the Rightmove website within the first week of going on sale, and 47% within the first two weeks.

Bannister continues: “Many of those who are selling in this record-breaking market obviously also face the prospect of buying again in the same market, and being in fierce competition against other buyers.

“Having a buyer for your own property, subject to contract, puts those who are buying again in a powerful position compared to buyers who have yet to sell, and agents report that these ‘power buyers’ are more likely to get the property that they want and negotiate the best deal on price.”

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North London estate agent and former Rics residential chairman Jeremy Leaf comments: “Although Rightmove reports that asking prices aren’t rising quite as rapidly this month compared with last, overall the numbers are still strong, reflecting the continuing huge mismatch between supply and demand.

“In our offices, we have found stronger interest in higher value, larger family homes, where buyers seem to find it easier to shrug off concerns about rising interest rates and events in Ukraine having an even more serious impact on household expenditure than previously.

“Nevertheless, transaction numbers are down a little from the heady days of most of last year, and transaction times are lengthening.

“Flats are a different story, particularly those without outside space and good connectivity, where stretched affordability and deposit raising is more of an issue.

“As a result, flat prices will probably soften rather than correct but are certainly not going out of fashion completely now hybrid work patterns are more firmly established.”

By Gary Adams

Source: Mortgage Finance Gazette

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The average house price in Britain has surged above £350,000 for the first time ever as buyer demand outstrips the amount of homes on sale.

House sellers were typically asking for £354,564 for a property in March, up £5,760 on February levels in the biggest monthly price hike since 2004, according to data from property platform Rightmove.

The average price last month was also 10.4 per cent higher than the same time last year, the sharpest annual rise that Rightmove has recorded in any month since June 2014.

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Rightmove said that house prices had been stoked by the biggest mismatch between buyer demand and supply ever recorded, with more than double the amount of buyers as sellers currently active in the market.

But the firm’s director of property data Tim Bannister said the boom may settle in the coming months as economic pressures begin to bite.

“There are headwinds that seem likely to remove the current market froth in the second half of the year,” he said.

“We’ve just seen interest rates rise again, and there are further incremental increases forecast for the year which will raise mortgage rates for some.”

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Soaring Inflation and a looming cost of living crunch were also likely to affect buyer affordability and market sentiment in the coming months, Bannister said.

So-called ‘top-of-the-ladder’ homes were currently weathering the biggest jump in prices, with four bedroom or more properties recording an average jump of £23,619 due to the high demand and greatest scarcity of supply.

Despite the sharp rise in asking prices from sellers, agents have reported having to slash initial prices as prospective buyers are left “underwhelmed” by over-optimistic sellers, Rightmove said.

By CHARLIE CONCHIE

Source: City AM

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Every month for the last year, annual house price growth has climbed. This is the longest stretch of year-on-year rises since the beginning of 2017 as London enters a strong spring sellers’ market.

The annual rate of growth in asking prices has increased every month since April 2021. This means the marketed price of a London home is 6.3 per cent higher this March than 12 months ago, taking the average to £664,400. From February 2021 to February 2022, the increase was as much as 7.3 per cent, up from 4.2 per cent from January to January.

The last time the capital recorded a sustained stretch of uninterrupted growth was from September 2009 to February 2017, according to the latest Asking Prices Index from Rightmove.

The time it takes to sell a property in London also dropped from 68 days to 57 this February after a high of 71 days in the same month last year – another indicator that the London housing market is restarting after the pandemic.

During the Covid-19 crisis many young workers and families chose to move out of Britain’s cities and into smaller towns and villages which quashed sales in the capital, especially in the inner boroughs.

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However, following the vaccine roll-out programme, the reopening of culture and hospitality, the return to the office and the re-emergence of overseas buyers, activity is picking up.

How long it takes to sell a property in London

Although the emergency stamp duty holiday ended in the autumn, demand to move in the UK has remained at a record high as the home moving boom continued to grip the whole nation, the report also shows.

The average price of property coming to market rose 1.7 per cent this month to £354,564 – breaking through the £350,000 threshold for the first time. This is the largest monthly rise for March since 2004 with an annual increase of 10.4 per cent.

The time it takes to sell on average in the UK fell from 44 days in January to 36 in February. The number of days from offer to completion was as low as 25 days in Scotland and 30 days in the south west of England.

“This unprecedented price level is being stoked by the greatest imbalance between buyer demand and the number of properties available for sale that we have ever measured at this time of year,” says Tim Bannister, analyst at Rightmove. “This is the strongest spring sellers’ market that we have ever seen in several metrics,” he adds.

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There are now more than twice as many buyers as sellers active in the market, which is the biggest mismatch between supply and demand that the property portal has recorded in its two-decade history.

In fact, 22 per cent of properties listed on Rightmove go under offer within the first two weeks of marketing – twice as many as in the pre-pandemic market of 2019.

“Usually buyer demand pauses in February for half term and then we see a slight break ahead of the spring but this year buyer enquiries picked up back straight away,” says Patrick Rampton of Rampton Baseley in Clapham. “There is pent up demand in the London market from Brexit and the pandemic, and with rising interest rates people want to secure a mortgage deal now. We might have half the stock but we are selling everything,” he adds.

Bannister stresses that now is the right time for cautious sellers who have been waiting for the pandemic to settle down but want to move ahead of rising interest rates and inflation. Although, the Rightmove business model is based on the listing of homes for sale.

Strutt & Parker’s Kate Eales believes despite historically low stocks, spring sellers are starting to emerge.

By Anna White

Source: Evening Standard

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