Market Reports

Although it sounds like a tenuous connection, the property market and the weather are linked. The arrival of early summer has coincided with the traditional uptick in house prices. This May, Rightmove has noted an extraordinary correlation between warmer temperatures and property values.

With a third of the year complete, it’s a good time to appraise the property market. If your primary concern is the direction of house prices, Rightmove can shed light. It found the average house price in Great Britain had climbed 0.2% in April to £366,247.

Spring is traditionally a peak season for sales and we’re beginning to see the first ‘green shoots’ of activity. The statistics come from Rightmove, whose March House Price Index reflects data across England, Scotland and Wales. The trend is for asking prices to increase.

Nationwide’s latest House Price Index showed that after three years of rising values, stability has been restored. With a market returning to more ‘normal’ territory, expectations need adjusting, as a new report from Zoopla revealed.

December saw signs that the sales market was regulating. Rightmove’s latest figures revealed the average price of a property coming to market dropped by 2.1% in the final weeks of 2022. This equated to -£7,862, indicating sellers are adjusting their price expectations in line with current sentiment.

We have been holding our breath to see how political and economic changes have affected the property market. Thankfully, whispers of a crash have proven unfounded and we much prefer Zoopla’s take on conditions. The portal says we’re experiencing a property market ‘shake out’.

It was all change across the UK in October, starting in England. It was only a month ago that we wrote about a new Prime Minister and Chancellor at the helm. Unbelievably, we are reporting the very same news a matter of weeks later, swapping Liz Truss for Rishi Sunak and Kwasi Kwarteng for Jeremy Hunt.

September was a month of disruption. With a new Prime Minister and Chancellor at the helm, changes marked the inauguration of this new partnership. First up alterations to the stamp duty thresholds.

August is usually a time for lazy days and annual holidays but this year, the month failed to read the script. There has ­not been the traditional pause in home moving activity this summer. As a result, there are some surprising statistics to digest.

July provided the experts at Zoopla with the perfect opportunity to evaluate how the last two years have affected the UK property market. Its headline statistic – pandemic housing boom creates 270,000 property millionaires – won’t apply to the majority of homeowners but the rest of its analysis will.

June is over and where did that month go? The mid-point of 2022 is pivotal in the property calendar – with six months of trading behind us. All eyes are on the market’s momentum and whether demand is being maintained. 

There has been talk about a lack of properties for sale for some time now but a new report released at the end of May has put a figure on the squeeze. Propertymark claims that in April 2022, there were 52% fewer properties available, compared to the same month in the previous nine years.