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 = £251,500, 1.2% change in the month, 8.5% up in the year. Monthly index (where January 2015 = 100) 131.9
House prices in the North West of England rose by 11.2% in the year to December 2020, the highest in the country. At the other end of the scale, London’s house price growth was 3.5% over the same period, down from 7% in the year to November 2022.
Mortgage approvals were slightly down from November but much stronger than February 2020, at 103,400.
UK average house price = £251,968, down -0.3% in the month, up 1.6% up in the quarter, up 5.4% in the year. Monthly index (where January 1992 = 100) 434.5
House purchases that are currently underway are unlikely to benefit from the stamp duty holiday, due to the length of time transactions are now taking. Predicting how this may affect the ongoing housing market is difficult but near term prices could be adversely affected. However, the strongest demand has come from home buyers moving into properties with more space and this trend may well continue.
National average house asking price = £318,580, up 0.5% in the month and 3.0% in the year.
Of home buyers who agreed to purchase a property in July 2020, one in three is yet to complete – some six months later. Rightmove estimates that 100,000 home buyers will miss the opportunity to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.
Although it is too late to complete before the stamp duty holiday ends, there is still growth in the number of new buyers. There were 45% more visits to the Rightmove website in the first week of February and agreed purchases were up by 7%.
Supply is still lagging behind supply with 21% fewer new sellers than a year ago.
UK average house price = £229,748, -0.3% change in the month and 6.4% increase in the year.
The Nationwide says the relationship between economic trends and the housing market has shifted during the pandemic, as housing needs have changed and more people are choosing to live in larger properties in less built up areas.
Mortgage approvals exceeded the previous year, despite the economy shrinking around over 2020.
The number of people owning their homes outright rose for the third consecutive year to 64.6%, although it is yet to attain levels reached during the peak year of 2003, when it was 70.9%.
Average England and Wales house price = £330,958, 1.2% change in the month, 8.7% in the year.
The region with the highest annual change in the three months to December 2020 was the South West at 13.9%, while London saw the lowest house price growth at 3.2%, compared to the same three months in 2019/20.
Contrary to the trend in most unitary authorities outside London, the reduction in visitors from abroad, students and employees has led to rental reductions in the City of Westminster, City of London and Camden.
HM Land Registry has issued partial releases of market data since April 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations. Datasets are available.
In December 2020, HM Land Registry received over 1,431,690 applications to change or query the Land Register.
REGIONAL HOUSE PRICES
UK HPI Regional figures
(all percentages are positive unless indicated otherwise)
| December 2020 | Average price GBP | % monthly change | % annual change |
| England | £269,150 | 1.5% | 8.5% |
| Northern Ireland (Quarter 4 – 2020) | £147,593 | 3.0% | 5.3% |
| Scotland | £162,983 | -1.2% | 8.4% |
| Wales | £184,195 | 2.3% | 10.7% |
| East Midlands | £215,046 | 2.8% | 10.6% |
| East of England | £310,912 | 2.4% | 7.0% |
| London | £496,066 | -1.1% | 3.5% |
| North East | £141,154 | 1.9% | 9.2% |
| North West | £183,727 | 2.5% | 11.2% |
| South East | £341,007 | 0.1% | 6.1% |
| South West | £282,388 | 2.3% | 10.2% |
| West Midlands | £216,950 | 1.9% | 9.4% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £182,907 | 1.1% | 10.4% |
UK HPI Average monthly price by property type
| Property type | December 2020 | December 2019 | Difference |
| Detached | £386,257 | £351,118 | 10.0% |
| Semi-detached | £239,946 | £220,545 | 8.8% |
| Terraced | £205,864 | £188,460 | 9.2% |
| Flat or maisonette | £251,500 | £231,792 | 8.5% |
| All | £249,633 | £232,100 | 7.6% |
Rightmove regional figures
| February 2021 | Average price GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| London | £621,886 | 3.0% | -1.1% |
| South East | £414,445 | 1.3% | 2.6% |
| South West | £318,449 | -1.1% | 3.4% |
| East of England | £363,974 | -0.4% | 3.1% |
| West Midlands | £240,789 | -1.4% | 3.8% |
| East Midlands | £236,453 | -2.1% | 3.2% |
| North West | £215,561 | 2.5% | 7.3% |
| Wales | £212,378 | 1.1% | 6.4% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | £202,809 | 0.1% | 2.8% |
| North East | £159,430 | 2.2% | 5.4% |
Nationwide regional figures
| Q4: 3 months to December 2020 | Average House Price (£) GBP | Annual % change (this quarter) | Annual % change (previous quarter) |
| N Ireland | £149,382 | 5.9% | 1.5% |
| North West | £176,925 | 8.0% | 3.0% |
| East Midlands | £200,951 | 8.6% | 4.0% |
| West Midlands | £207,603 | 7.5% | 3.1% |
| Scotland | £156,768 | 3.2% | 2.0% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £172,326 | 7.7% | 4.6% |
| East Anglia | £242,804 | 6.4% | 2.7% |
| Wales | £169,846 | 6.6% | 3.8% |
| North | £137,531 | 6.5% | 4.2% |
| South West | £264.512 | 6.6% | 5.5% |
| Outer South East | £296,291 | 8.0% | 4.8% |
| Outer Met | £377,677 | 5.6% | 5.0% |
| London | £486,562 | 6.2% | 4.4% |
| UK | £229,819 | 6.4% | 3.5% |
LSL Acadata Regional Data
| December 2020 | Average House Price £ GBP | Monthly % change | Annual % Change Greater |
| Greater London | £639,897 | 1.7% | 3.2% |
| South East | £411,845 | 1.1% | 8.0% |
| South West | £332,844 | 2.1% | 13.9% |
| East of England | £352,737 | 0.1% | 6.4% |
| West Midlands | £254,680 | 1.5% | 9.5% |
| East Midlands | £248,095 | 1.8% | 10.4% |
| North West | £217,451 | 1.2% | 10.0% |
| Wales | £211,226 | 1.1% | 8.7% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £217,699 | 1.4% | 8.3% |
| North East | £282,338 | 1.9% | 8.7% |
Focus on London
Best and Worst (-) annual performers according to:
| Rightmove February 2021 |
Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Croydon | £449,210 | 0.3% | 6.2% |
| Hackney | £659,315 | 1.3% | 5.5% |
| Camden | £943,709 | -2.5% | -7.8% |
| Westminster | £1,320,412 | -3.2% | -9.9% |
| LCL Acadata January 2021 |
Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Merton | £784,123 | -0.1% | 28.7% |
| Hounslow | £605,349 | 4.4% | 20.6% |
| Hackney | £651,009 | -1.0% | -16.5% |
| City of Westminster | £2,066,604 | 2.3% | -37.3% |
RICS Survey Overview
The RICS Residential Market Survey for January 2021 reported a fall in enquiries, sales and new instructions, the first since May 2020.
A weaker housing market is forecast with fewer new listings and a drop in home buyers this month. Despite the flatter housing market, sales prices are expected to continue rising, perhaps to a lesser degree in London.
Tenant demand saw a modest increase and landlord instructions fell for the second consecutive quarter. Rental growth is expected to rise marginally with the exception of London, where 43% of respondents reported a fall in rents.
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