House prices: October bump the worst since the height of the financial crisis
House price behaviour is back where it was in the height of the financial crisis, with the “key selling season” of October failing to give prices liftoff.
Latest data from the Rightmove House Price Index shows the new seller asking price has increased 0.5 per cent this month, which is up £1,950 to an average of £368,231.
House prices usually see a rise this time of the year, Rightmove’s director of Property Science Tim Bannister said, but the increase seen this month still remains below the two-decade average increase of 1.4 per cent.
The last time the number was this low was 2008.
The autumn months are considered to be “key selling season,” with Brits looking to up-sticks and move in time for Christmas.
The number of sales agreed are 17 per cent below what was recorded in October last year, the data highlighted, but the number of buyers enquiring to available homes is 8 per cent higher than this time of year in 2019 before the pandemic.
Properties prices set accurately from the beginning are 50 per cent less likely to fall through once a buyer is found, Rightmove’s index suggests, which is why agents stress the importance to “get the price right first time.”
Bannister said: “While this year’s much more subdued rise indicates that some new sellers are gradually heeding their agents’ advice to price competitively, agents report that other sellers still need to adjust their expectations on the price that they are likely to achieve in the current post-pandemic, lower-activity market, where six in 10 homes are now selling rather than eight in 10.”
Confidence is also reportedly higher for home-movers with a “more stable” mortgage market.
Despite remaining above lower levels in recent years, the data suggested average fixed mortgage rates have been trending downwards for 11 consecutive weeks.
Ben Hudson, managing director at Hudson Moody in York, said: “The market is more price sensitive than it’s ever been, making pricing accurately so crucial.
“Being too optimistic with the asking price causes a double-whammy for sellers– not only do they inevitably have to reduce the price of their home anyway, but they often put off potential buyers with too high an initial asking price and then struggle to recapture this attention when it’s reduced.”