Welsh house prices rise again in ‘spring frenzy’

WALES has once again recorded the highest average house price increase year-on-year, according to Rightmove.

The property portal reports that the property market across the UK continues to set new milestones for price and activity levels, including the price of property coming to market hitting a new record UK high for the third consecutive month.

Described as a ‘spring market frenzy’, Wales is at the top of the regional list, recording the highest average house price increase yearon-year of 14.5%, and a monthly increase of 2.7%.

Rightmove puts the UK average house price to be £360,101, with research by the Principality building society indicating that the average house price in Wales is now £233,361.

This figure sets another new record for Welsh house prices, up by 3% across the first quarter of 2022 according to the Principality.

The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) latest house price index for Wales, published on April 13, covers the period up to and including February and breaks the house price increase figures down to county level.

The ONS data reveals that Merthyr Tydfil, Vale of Glamorgan and Blaenau Gwent are the top three counties in Wales to have the highest year-onyear increase in average house price to February.

Merthyr has seen an increase of 22.7% with an average price of £147,837, the Vale of Glamorgan now has an average price of £301,218, an increase of 20.6% and in Blaenau Gwent, prices have risen by 18.8%, with an average price of £122,221.

For Caerphilly, prices have increased by 16.7% to give an average price of £177,006, for Rhondda Cynon Taf, the increase is 13% with a £145,968 average price, Cardiff prices have risen by 11.6% for an average price of £250,224 and Bridgend has seen an increase of 11.2%, with an average price of £190,771.

On a UK level, the three months from January to March 2022 saw a price jump of over £19,000, which is the largest seen in any three-month period since records began.

As the frenetic activity continues, properties are selling faster than ever previously recorded by Rightmove. According to its data, on a UK level the pace is twice as quickly as in the more normal, pre-pandemic market of 2019.

In 2019 on the portal, the average time to sell was 67 days, the latest figures show an average of just 33 days before a property is marked as sold subject to contract on Rightmove.

Rightmove also says that 53% of UK properties are selling at or over the full asking price, again the highest level ever measured.

Overall, the analysis shows properties are achieving 98.9% of the final advertised asking price on average, which is also the highest percentage since its records began.

When it comes to what is selling and where, sales are up across all of Rightmove’s lower, middle, and upper market sectors and across all regions. This is known as a ‘full house’ and is only the second time this has occurred since 2007, the first being in October 2021.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data said: “While growing affordability constraints mean that this momentum is not sustainable for the longer term, the high demand from a large number of buyers chasing too few properties for sale has led to a spring price frenzy, a hat-trick of record price months, and the largest price increase for a threemonth period Rightmove has ever recorded.

“The strong momentum has carried over from last year and, combined with the impetus of the spring moving season, has delivered the quickest selling market we’ve ever seen.”