Asking prices rise in April
House sellers increased the average asking price for a home by 2.6%, or £5,898, in the month to the 10th April, to £235,512.
New figures from Rightmove.co.uk show this month’s rise taking prices 6% higher than a year earlier, having built on a 0.1% increase in March.
However, with over 25,000 properties put up for sale each week in the last two months, the average number of homes on estate agents’ books jumped from 65 in March to 68 in April, the highest level since October 2009.
Rightmove’s commercial director, Miles Shipside, comments: “Rarer property types in desirable locations are achieving record prices … conversely, in areas where buyers have less access to cash or mortgage finance, or there is an over-supply of a certain property type, then sellers are having to price much more aggressively to secure a sale.”
Mr Shipside goes on to warn that increased choice for buyers, combined with post-election austerity measures on personal finances, could lead to some of the price gains seen so far being whittled away, in all but the most popular of areas.
Last week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported that the rate at which house price have been rising slowed in March, as political uncertainty prompted vendors to market their properties before the impending General Election.
The surge in new instructions coincided with new buyer enquiries stabilising, and the RICS also found that only 9% more chartered surveyors reported a rise, rather than a fall, in house prices – down from 18% more reporting a rise in February.
However, there were significant variations in regional price trends with London, the South East and Scotland the performing markets.
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