Crash? What crash? House prices defy gravity though London lags slightly
House prices continues to defy expectations with a steady recovery this month that has seen the average property coming onto the market increase by £3,000.
Asking prices for new sellers do still remain £5,800 below their peak in October 2022.
London’s average asking price fell by 0.1 per cent in March, leaving the average price tag in the capital at just over £680,000.
Top of the ladder properties, which make up the largest and most expensive houses for sale, led the national average with a 1.2 per cent increase in prices.
Homes for first-time buyers rose in price to a more modest 0.4%, while second steppers looking to move up the property ladder saw a 0.5 per cent rise.
Larger home sales, by contrast, are 10% short of 2019’s average, while second stepper homes are 13% behind.
Tim Bannister, a property expert at Rightmove, said lagging sales for bigger homes was due to “a more cautious approach to trading up due to the cost of living, and even perhaps concern over the running costs of a larger home.”
“The pace of the market reached an unsustainable level in the last two years, and was on track to slow to a more normal level, though the speed of this slowdown to more normality was accelerated by the reaction to September’s mini-budget,” he continued.
“While higher mortgage rates and economic headwinds raise challenges, many potential home movers who were effectively side-lined in the frenetic bidding wars of the last two years will find that a slower-paced market gives them time to plan and secure their next move as we enter the traditionally busy spring-buying season.”