Asking prices inch up to record high

The average asking price of new property coming on to the market rose by a modest 0.4% in April. But this was enough to push the national average to a record high of £305,732 in April, according to Rightmove, the UK’s largest property website.

Rightmove has been recording asking prices since January 2002 and covers 90% of estate agents.

The previous highest average price across the UK was £304,943 in July 2017.

On average sellers get 96.7% of their final asking price, a difference of around £10,000 on average asking prices. Asking price trends vary across the UK. Scotland saw the highest regional increase, with April asking prices at £153,833, up 2.9% on March.

The biggest fall was in London, where new sellers asked for £628,039 on average, down 0.6% month-on-month. What’s more, where London sellers were achieving 98.9% of the asking price back in 2014, that has fallen to 95.6% this year, meaning a current difference of over £27,000 on the new average asking price in the capital.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside commented: “Home buyers are seeing average asking prices at their highest-ever level with upwards price pressure getting stronger the further away you move from London.

“However, higher prices stretch buyers’ willingness to pay or ability to afford them. This month’s increase of 0.4% is the lowest at this time of year since 2008, though the subdued figure could partly be a re-balancing from the seasonally large 1.5% rise the previous month. The earlier Easter Bank Holidays and heavy snow disrupting property marketing will also have an effect on like-for-like comparisons with last year.”

Rightmove says record visits to its website indicate strong interest in property, though a subdued annual rise of 1.6% shows that buyers are increasingly price sensitive.

 

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