November marked the fifth consecutive monthly UK house price rise and the biggest leap so far this year, according to Halifax. The mortgage lender said property values were up 1.3% compared with October.
We expect positive price growth this year – in a climate of falling mortgage rates, improving affordability and the release of some pent-up demand. Rightmove reported that first-time buyer demand in the capital in September 2024 was 28% ahead of 2023, moving up to 31% after the autumn budget.
International property company JLL has said it expects Greater London house prices to increase by 22% over the next 5-years, beating nationwide UK growth predictions of 20% over the same time span. The firm added that within those headline figures, it expected lower value markets to see stronger growth towards the beginning of the period, with more expensive markets like London and the South East outperforming in the second half.
The September data from online portal Zoopla showed that UK property sales volumes were at their highest level since pandemic restrictions were lifted in 2020.
UK house prices rose by 0.7% in September, boosting the annual growth rate from 2.4% in August to 3.2% in September—the fastest pace recorded since November 2022 (4.4%). Average prices are now just 2% below the all-time highs of summer 2022.
The latest data from the Office of National Statistics showed property prices in London increasing in May, with the average price hitting £523,376.
The latest analysis of the prime London property market from estate agent Savills celebrates the resilience of prime London prices in the run-up to the general election and predicts a stronger performance in the second half of the year now that “most uncertainty is behind us”. In the Prime Outer London neighbourhoods that London Richmond invests in – including Battersea, Wimbledon and Chiswick – a continued supply-and-demand imbalance for family houses has supported values.
London now has the fastest rising property prices in the south of England, according to the latest figures from lender Nationwide. Prices in the capital rose by 1.6% in the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile data from estate agent Hamptons shows that a home in London is now more likely to sell above its asking price than elsewhere in England and Wales, providing further evidence of growing confidence in the capital’s housing market.
Strong buyer demand and brisk transaction volumes during March combined to push the average UK home’s asking price up by 1.5%, according to Rightmove.
The average British house price reached a record high of £375,131 in May, according to Rightmove. Asking prices of properties coming to market rose 0.8% month on month thanks to pent-up demand from buyers who had paused their plans last year.
National house prices rose by 2.9% in the final three months of 2023 according to the Halifax house price index, confounding the media’s expectations who continue to promote the false idea that the property market is not as strong as we know it is.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported last week that its measure of forecasted sales for the next three months had risen to 6 in November, up from -17 in October and the first positive reading it has offered since April 2022.
Building society Nationwide announced recently that UK house prices had increased by 0.9% between September and October thanks to scarcity of supply and a strong labour market. Robert Gardner, Chief Economist at Nationwide, said the rise probably reflected the “constrained” supply of properties on the market, adding that there was “little sign of forced selling, which would exert downward pressure on prices, as labour market conditions are solid and mortgage arrears are at historically low levels".