Our monthly Property Surveying summary of property market news, survey data, statistics, trends and information. (All figures below are the most recently available data.)
Data source: Land Registry
UK average house price = £265,668, 4.5% change in the month, 13.2% up in the year. Monthly index (where January 2015 = 100) 139.3
The North West of England was the region with the strongest house price growth, where house prices rose 18.6% in the twelve months to June 2021. London saw the lowest yearly growth, at 6.3%.
UK average house price = £261,221, 0.4% in the month, 2.4% up in the quarter, 7.6% in the year. Monthly index (where January 1992 = 100) 450.5
Typical house prices are slightly above £261,000, slightly below May’s peak and £18,500 higher than twelve months ago. June was the busiest month for mortgage completions. A steadier period of market activity is expected once the stamp duty holiday ends from October and ‘race for space’ work patterns begin to settle.
National average house asking price = £337,371, -0.3% in the month and 5.6% in the year.
Despite being a usually slower period of the year, because of holidays, buyer demand for the first week of August was up 56% on the same period in 2020 and only 17% below the period before lockdown. Rightmove says there is a ‘strong incentive’ for home owners to sell before buying.
First time buyer properties (homes with up to two bedrooms) and second step homes are setting record prices. These lower priced properties have been less affected by the stamp duty holiday.
An ‘autumn bounce’ is predicted in seller activity and house prices.
UK average house price = £244,229, -0.5% change in the month and 10.5% increase in the year.
There was strong incentive to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline by completing prior to June but after reaching a 17 year record high of 13.4% in June, the slight fall in house price growth in July was not surprising. Around double the number of housing transactions recorded in a typical month before the pandemic took place in June. In the period April to June house prices rose over six times the average monthly increase recorded in the five years prior to the pandemic.
Changes to the types of property being sought have also helped drive the market, and 25% of homeowners surveyed by Nationwide said their decision to move was related to the pandemic.
Average England and Wales house price = £336,003, 0.9% change in the month, 9.1% in the year.
Taking London and the South East out of the equation, house prices rose an average 12% in July. There was a 32% increase in the number of housing transactions in the first quarter of the year compared to a year ago.
Despite the theory that people are rushing to live away from urban locations, the area with the highest increase in sales transactions of detached properties was in Brighton and Hove in the South East, where they rose 140%.
UK Property Transaction Statistics
The number of residential property transactions over £40,000 was 73,740 in July 2021. The figure was severely affected by ‘forestalling’ whereby property transactions were completed early to take advantage of the temporary reduction in stamp duty.
REGIONAL HOUSE PRICES
UK HPI Regional figures
(all percentages are positive unless indicated otherwise)
| June 2021 | Average Price | % Monthly change | % Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | £284,029 | 4.9% | 13.3% |
| Northern Ireland (Quarter 2 – 2021) | £153,449 | 2.9% | 9.0% |
| Scotland | £173,961 | 2.4% | 12.0% |
| Wales | £195,291 | 4.6% | 16.7% |
| East Midlands | £226,846 | 5.1% | 14.3% |
| East of England | £327,017 | 4.5% | 12.1% |
| London | £510,229 | 2.5% | 6.3% |
| North East | £149,521 | 5.9% | 15.3% |
| North West | £200,222 | 6.8% | 18.6% |
| South East | £355,948 | 2.7% | 10.5% |
| South West | £294,906 | 5.5% | 13.7% |
| West Midlands | £231,429 | 5.7% | 15.0% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £194,518 | 7.1% | 15.8% |
UK HPI Average monthly price by property type
| Property type | June 2021 | June 2020 | Difference |
| Detached | £410,054 | £354,822 | 15.6% |
| Semi-detached | £254,441 | £224,209 | 13.5% |
| Terraced | £218,484 | £191,724 | 14.0% |
| Flat or maisonette | £221,211 | £204,095 | 8.4% |
| All | £265,668 | £234,703 | 13.2% |
Rightmove regional figures
| August 2021 | Average price GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| London | £635,585 | -1.5% | 1.0% |
| South East | £448,166 | -0.5% | 7.2% |
| South West | £350,600 | 0.4% | 8.4% |
| East of England | £392,280 | -0.2% | 7.5% |
| West Midlands | £259,211 | 0.0% | 6.6% |
| East Midlands | £258,374 | -0.2% | 7.5% |
| North West | £228,594 | 1.5% | 8.6% |
| Wales | £236,037 | 2.3% | 10.9% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | £219,692 | 1.1% | 6.2% |
| North East | £165,712 | -0.6% | 3.8% |
LSL Acadata Regional Data
| June 2021 | Average House Price £ GBP | Monthly % change | Annual % Change Greater |
| Greater London | £629,290 | 0.5% | 1.2% |
| South East | £421,597 | 0.6% | 9.5% |
| South West | £337,161 | 1.3% | 13.8% |
| East of England | £371,821 | 1.2% | 0.5% |
| West Midlands | £263,550 | 1.3% | 12.4% |
| East Midlands | £254,115 | 1.6% | 12.3% |
| North West | £232,497 | 1.2% | 15.8% |
| Wales | £215,566 | 0.5% | 12.3% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £225,666 | 1.7% | 14.7% |
| North East | £184,892 | 1.1% | 10.6% |
Focus on London
Best and Worst (-) annual performers according to:
| Rightmove August 2021 |
Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Barking and Dagenham | £345,272 | 0.7% | 7.3% |
| Kingston upon Thames | £652,251 | -1.2% | 7.1% |
| Islington | £745,781 | 0.5% | -4.9% |
| Camden | £981,438 | -0.2% | -5.3% |
| LCL Acadata June 2021 |
Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Redbridge | £527,772 | 3.6% | 21.1% |
| Bromley | £555,774 | 1.3% | 9.8% |
| Hammersmith & Fulham | £863,936 | 0.1% | -11.9% |
| Westminster | £1,830,111 | 5.0% | -28.0% |
RICS Survey Overview
The RICS Residential Market Survey for July 2021 revealed a drop in buyer enquiries and newly agreed house sales after four months of successive positive figures. Most decline was seen in the regions of Yorkshire & the Humber, the East Midlands and East Anglia.
The number of homes coming onto the housing market is still in decline and those taking part in the survey reported the lack of housing supply as a main factor of house price growth. House prices are predicted to continue rising over the next year.
Tenant demand rose for the fifth successive quarter while new landlord instructions declined again.
Rightmove.co.uk is the UKs leading property website, displaying details of homes for sale or rent to the largest online audience. It is consistently ranked the number one property website in the UK (source: Experian Hitwise). It has around 90% of all properties for sale and at any time displays a stock of over one million properties to buy or rent, worth around £270 billion. The Rightmove.co.uk site attracts over 130 million visits from home movers each month with time on site averaging over one billion minutes per month (Rightmove data, 2017).
LSL Acad E&W HPI is derived from Land Registry (LR) house price data, seasonally and mix adjusted by property type. © Crown copyright material reproduced with the permission of Land Registry. The prices are smoothed to show underlying trends. LSL Acad E&W HPI includes cash purchase prices and is the only index based upon the complete, factual house price data for England & Wales, as opposed to a sample.
UK HPI: Monthly house price inflation, calculated using data from Land Registry, Registers of Scotland and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland. This replaces the previous House Price Indices separately published by Office of National Statistics and Land Registry.
All figures within this article are correct at the time of going to press, and are reproduced in good faith. No responsibility will be taken for any decisions taken based on the information contained herein. Always seek professional advice.
The Monthly Market Fact File will be updated next month.
SH/LCB