–Rightmove: UK May Survey House Asking Prices +1.3% m/m; +0.7% y/y
LONDON (MNI) – UK homeowners have pushed up their asking prices
markedly, driving the average price in Rightmove’s May survey to its
highest level since June 2008.
The Rightmove survey covered 98,606 asking prices which were put on
sale by estate agents from April 10 to May 7.
The May Rightmove survey put the average UK house asking price at
stg238,874, up 1.3% on the month and up 0.7% on the year, compared to up
1.7% on the month and up 0.1% on the year in April.
Recent evidence suggests homeowners have only been getting around
70% of their asking prices. The official Land Registry data for March,
the latest month available in that series, put the average completed
selling price of a property at stg160,996 compared to Rightmove’s
average asking price that month of stg231,790, a 30.5% gap.
A Rightmove spokesman said that while in parts of the London market
cash buyers were able to come close to meeting asking prices, sellers
in other parts of the country appeared to be over optimistic, with
potential buyers struggling to obtain mortgage finance.
Rightmove found evidence of declining activity in the housing
market, with activity hit by the raft of Bank Holidays at the end of
April.
The first of the Easter Bank Holidays came on April 22, followed
by the April 25 Easter Bank Holiday and then the April 29 Royal Wedding
Bank Holiday and the May 2 Bank Holiday.
Rightmove said new property listings dropped from around 29,000 per
week to around 20,000 per week over the extended bank holiday period.
The decrease in new property listings helped drive up asking prices
of new properties on the market, and the average numbers of unsold
properties per estate agent branch rose to 76 from 74, its highest ever
level for May.
–London newsroom: 4420 7862 7492; email drobinson@marketnews.com
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