–Rightmove: UK Jun Survey House Asking Prices +0.6% m/m; +1.1% y/y
LONDON (MNI) – UK homeowners have pushed up their asking prices,
driving the average price in Rightmove’s June survey to its highest
level since August 2007.
June’s average price of stg240,394 is the fourth highest on record,
and the highest ever for June, Rightmove said. June’s rise in
house prices was the sixth consecutive monthly rise, but Rightmove
predicts asking prices will fall back in the second half of the year.
According to the survey, the average UK house asking price rose
0.6% on the month and 1.1% on the year, compared to a rise of 1.3% on
the month and 0.7% on the year in May.
The Rightmove survey covered 142,712 asking prices which were put
on sale by estate agents from May 8 to June 11.
Despite rises in prices, the survey showed number of unsold
properties on agents’ books increased for the fourth consecutive month,
suggesting that prices could dip if supply continues to outstrip demand.
The amount of unsold stock per branch was an average of 69 at the
beginning of the year and has risen every month since, with each estate
agency branch now hawking an average of 78 properties.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove said they expected sellers’
prices would fall by as much as 7% in the next six months.
“2011 looks like a case of deja vu, with the tide of housing needs
yet again failing to breach the levee of restricted mortgage funding. As
the seasonal surge in demand begins to fall back, new sellers’ asking
prices will also have to ebb away,” Shipside said.
“With mortgage approvals stuck at half the normal level, the number
of sellers who can find a buyer is likely to be reduced by a similar
proportion,” he added.
–London newsroom: 4420 7862 7492; email wwilkes@marketnews.com
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