Welcome to the September 2018 Property Market fact file – a round-up of the latest property market news, collating survey data, statistics, trends and information about the property market. (All figures below are the most recently available data.)
UK House Price Index
Data source: Land Registry
UK average house price = £231,422, up 3.1% in the month, up 1.2% in the year. Monthly index (where January 2015 = 100) is 121.4
There were 3.2% fewer transactions of residential properties below £40,000 year on year and mortgage approvals decreased by 6.1%.
Halifax
UK average house price = £229,958, up 0.1% in the month, up 1.9% in the quarter, up 3.7% in the year.
House prices remained steady in August 2018, and the monthly number of housing transactions has remained consistent in the year to August 2018. New buyer enquiries have also stayed stable.
The number of first time buyers has increased over the first six months of 2018 by 3% to 175,500, the third consecutive year in which first time buyer numbers have been over 150,000. The number is still 8% lower than the peak of 2006, when it topped 190,900. First time buyers now represent 51% of all mortgage finance on home purchases, up from 38% in 2008.
Rightmove
England and Wales average house asking price = £304,061, up 0.7% in the month and up 1.2% in the year.
Affordability was key to a stronger housing market in Wales, East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire & the Humber, where annual price rises were in excess of 4%.
London prices saw signs of improvement at the top end, with a 6% increase in the number of £650,000-plus homes sold, compared to August 2017.
Nationwide
UK average house price = £214,745, down -0.5% in the month and up 2.0% in the year.
Nationwide’s August index revealed a quiet month, with house prices slightly subdued, but predictions of an overall growth of around 1% by year end.
Help to Buy Equity Loans increased over the twelve months to March 2018 by 21% (on the same period the previous year) and accounted for around 8% of mortgaged house purchases in England. Most of these purchasers were first time buyers, representing a key source of new build house demand, and accounting for 37% of new build completions in the previous 12 months.
LSL / Acadata
Average England and Wales house price = £303,199, 0.1% change in the month, up 1.8% in the year.
There was a modest price rise in August, the first positive month for house price growth since March, although the annual increase is well below the inflation rate of 2.3% CPI.
London prices saw an annual increase of 3.6% for the three months centred on July, the first time the region has topped the league in 26 months. The South East was bottom of the scale at 0.2% annual growth.
The number of housing transactions is at its lowest level since 2013, and transactions in Jan-Aug 2018 4% lower than the same period last year.
HM Revenue & Customs
The provisional number of UK residential property transaction completions (over £40,000) for August 2018 was 99,120, representing an increase of 1.3% between July-Aug 2018, and the seasonally adjusted figure is 2.6% lower than August 2017. The number of non-adjusted residential transactions was 12.9% higher than July 2018, and 3.9% higher than August 2017.
The number of non-residential property transactions increased by 2.6% between July-August 2018. This is -1.9% lower than August 2017.
Land Registry Price Paid Data
Of the 95,721 residential sales received for registration in July, the most expensive residential property sale was a detached property in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, which sold for £18,500,000. There were 526 residential property sales valued at £1m or more in England and Wales, 300 of which were in Greater London.
The cheapest residential sale was a terraced property in Cwmbran, Wales which sold for £6,120.
REGIONAL HOUSE PRICES
| UK HPI Regional figures (all percentages are positive unless indicated otherwise) | |||
| July 2018 | Average price GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| England | £248,611 | 1.2% | 3.0% |
| Northern Ireland (Quarter 2 – 2018) | £132,795 | -1.0% | 4.4% |
| Scotland | £152,245 | 1.4% | 3.2% |
| Wales | £157,368 | -0.2% | 4.2% |
| East Midlands | £188,716 | -0.2% | 3.0% |
| East of England | £294,603 | 1.3% | 2.4% |
| London | £484,926 | 0.6% | -0.7% |
| North East | £131,505 | 2.6% | 2.8% |
| North West | £165,529 | 3.4% | 5.6% |
| South East | £327,002 | 0.4% | 1.8% |
| South West | £259,971 | 2.4% | 4.4% |
| West Midlands Region | £195,447 | 0.6% | 4.4% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £161,712 | 0.4% | 3.3% |
UK HPI Average monthly price by property type
| Property type | July 2018 GBP | July 2017 GBP | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £352,138 | £336,591 | 4.6% |
| Semi-detached | £216,785 | £209,936 | 3.3% |
| Terraced | £187,247 | £181,158 | 3.4% |
| Flat or maisonette | £207,639 | £206,308 | 0.6% |
| All | £231,422 | £224,554 | 3.1% |
Rightmove regional figures
| August 2018 | Average price GBP | Monthly change % | Annual change % |
| Greater London | 616,501 | 1.2 | -0.5 |
| South East | 405,304 | 0.7 | -0.1 |
| South West | 303,886 | -1.1 | 2.2 |
| East of England | 349,997 | -0.6 | 0.3 |
| West Midlands | 225,383 | 0.0 | 4.5 |
| East Midlands | 224,707 | 0.7 | 4.7 |
| North West | 192,014 | 0.1 | 2.4 |
| Wales | 194,370 | -1.0 | 4.6 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 190,316 | 0.7 | 4.0 |
| North East | 148,085 | -0.5 | 1.1 |
Nationwide regional figures
| Q2: 3 months to June 2018 | Average Price (£) GBP | Annual % change (this quarter) | Annual % change (previous quarter) |
| East Midlands | 181,549 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| West Midlands | 188,516 | 4.3 | 4.9 |
| Wales | 153,964 | 4.0 | 6.1 |
| North West | 160,419 | 3.0 | 3.2 |
| Outer South East | 281,752 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| East Anglia | 225,768 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| South West | 243,182 | 2.4 | 2.9 |
| Yorks & Humberside | 155,075 | 2.1 | 4.1 |
| North of England | 127,266 | 1.6 | 4.1 |
| Outer Met | 365,514 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| London | 468,845 | -1.9 | -1.0 |
Focus on London -Â Best and Worst (-) annual performers according to:
| Rightmove September 2018 | Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change % | Annual change % |
| Barking and Dagenham | 316,247 | -0.4 | 2.4 |
| Waltham Forest | 486,292 | -0.4 | 1.3 |
| Lewisham | 460,440 | -0.7 | -4.5 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 878,089 | -0.3 | -5.7 |
| LCL Acadata July 2018 | Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Merton | 659,305 | 4.1% | 10.1% |
| Redbridge | 477,196 | 0.2% | 6.5% |
| Greenwich | 423,066 | -2.6% | -8.7% |
| City of Westminster | 1,313,072 | -9.7% | -11.8% |
RICS Survey Overview
The RICS Residential Market Survey for August reported a further drop in new property sale instructions and a consequent strength in sales expectation, away from the South of England.
Nationally, house prices declined for the first time annually since July 2012, although in Wales, the North West, Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside, house prices were holding strong.
Contributing factors of summer weather, school holidays and the timing of the Bank Holiday were cited by many surveyors.
Sales trends in London remain weak but appear to have stabilised with help from realistic price expectations.
The availability of rental property has declined by -18% in the month, falling for the 23rd consecutive month. However, the increase of 22% in tenant demand is the strongest since October 2016 and there is market confidence of rental growth will outpace house price growth in the next five years (at 3% and 2% respectively).
Rightmove.co.uk is the UK’s 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.
Next Monthly Market Fact File due in October 2018.
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