Depending on which index you look at, house prices may be falling, rising, staying stagnant or wavering about all over the place. It’s a much better idea to have a look at a brief round-up if you want a clearer picture.
House prices are still on the rise
Across the nation, property prices are still going up – they rose 0.3% in March this year and they’re up by 2.5% from February 2017.
This is reflected in property portal Rightmove reporting a 1.5% increase, the Halifax reporting a 0.4% rise and the Nationwide and Land Registry recording falls of 0.2% and 0.1%.
What about the regions?
Across the nation, house prices have gone up but in London, they’ve fallen by 1.0%. The fastest rates of growth have been in the West Midlands, with 7.3%, followed by the East Midlands at 6.3% annually. Monthly, the north of England and the Midlands are the fastest movers.
Enquiries and instructions have slowed down
March this year was the 12th month in a row that new buyer enquiries dropped and the numbers of properties on agents’ books are very low. Rightmove says there were 5.0% fewer properties for sale in March this year than in March last year and they’re also taking longer to sell.
More property withdrawals
The Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors (RICS) in London says there are more properties being withdrawn from the market than there was a year ago.
The number of sales fell in February this year
This seems to be because of the relative lack of choice on the market, with home sales falling by 0.3% between January and February and by 0.7% since February 2017. This might look gloomy, but if you can add choice to the market by putting your property on it, this could work in your favour because a lot of new properties will attract a lot of interest simply because of the slim pickings available right now.
