Asking prices for homes hit a record but rise is slowing
HOUSE sellers’ asking prices reached a record high of £305,732 this month, figures reveal today.
Across the UK the price of a new-to-the-market property edged up by 0.4 per cent or £1,228 month-on-month, property website Rightmove said.
The increase pushed the average price tag on a home past the previous record of £304,943 seen in July 2017.
Rightmove said that on average sellers are achieving 96.7 per cent of their final asking price, a gap of just over £10,000 on the current national asking price.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “Home buyers are seeing average asking prices at their highest ever level with upwards price pressure getting stronger the further away you move from London.
“However, higher prices stretch buyers’ willingness to pay or ability to afford them.
“This month’s increase of 0.4 per cent is the lowest at this time of year since 2008, though the subdued figure could partly be a re-balancing from the seasonally large 1.5 per cent rise the previous month.
“The earlier Easter bank holidays and heavy snow disrupting property marketing will also have an effect on like-for-like comparisons with last year.”
Mark Manning, director of Manning Stainton, in West Yorks, said: “We have continued to see strong growth in the number of new firsttime buyers with a 15 per cent increase compared to last year.”
He had, not surprisingly, seen “further upward movement in our average house price, with the biggest rises in the middle market and those looking for family homes near good schools which remain in short supply”.
David Plumtree, of Connells Group estate agency, said: “It’s clear that market conditions have somewhat ‘softened’ due in part to affordability concerns.
“We do, however, expect market conditions to show improvement, as is traditional at this time of year. We saw some signs of resurgence over Easter and therefore anticipate a stronger spring period.
“It remains a sellers’ market with an imbalance between buyer demand and available stock.”
Earlier this month the Daily Express told how a surprise surge in property prices has pushed the cost of a three-bed semi to a record high.
And mortgages are at their most affordable for a decade, according to the Halifax.
Danny Belton, of the Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “Mortgage rates remain close to all-time lows, so now is a good opportunity for first-time buyers to get their feet firmly on the housing ladder.”
Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, predicted more price rises as the property market heads into the busy spring and summer months.