We take little notice of month on month and even year on year analysis as few people ‘trade’ properties in this way and it’s not necessarily the best indicator of when is a good time to buy or sell. What we are more interested in is tracking long term trends and seeing whether these continue or are changing and then working out the impact on different market sectors. For example falling prices can be good news for first time buyers and those trading up, but not people trading down.
Download my full report for February 2015
What's happening right now?
The Nationwide reported average property price of £188,466 for January 2015, which is up around 6.8% year on year, when compared to the same time last year.
The Land Registry average price for December 2014 of £177,766, a year on year increase of 7%.
The Acadata average property prices in December 2014 are £278,997, which is up 9.5% year on year.
Download my full report for February 2015
What's happened over the last year?
‘Average prices’ for mortgaged properties were £162,245 (Jan ’13) vs £188,466 for Nationwide Jan ‘15.
Land Registry’s average sold prices (including some cash sales) started at £160,839 in January 2013 and are now at £177,766 in December, having shown very little change over the last six months (Dec 2014).
Acadata’s average property prices for all properties were £227,478 in Jan 2013 vs £278,997 (Dec 2014).
Download my full report for February 2015
What's happening to property prices in the different UK regions this month?
Scotland
Acadata’s Scottish index suggests average house price growth continues to slow, but with a good level of demand. Christine Campbell, regional managing director of Your Move, part of LSL Property Services, comments: “Scottish property values have climbed a healthy 4.3% in the year to November, equal to £6,750 on average. In the last twelve months, fourth-fifths of the nation’s local authorities have witnessed increases in house values. The highest annual leap in values was found in Midlothian, with prices soaring 10.0% - more than double the wider nationwide average. Here, prices have been driven up by a considerable 30% uplift in sales of flats and terraced properties in the past twelve months. This burst of activity has pushed the typical cost of a flat in the area to £120,000, up from £100,000 a year ago.
“The Scottish property market is only just starting to recalibrate after the temporary disruption of the referendum. The immediate ‘feel-good’ factor following the vote led to an artificially upbeat October, but the dust is settling.
“Looking at recent data though, overall, property values fell in over half of Scotland’s local authority areas in November, and this has touched the brakes somewhat and forced a sharp 1.4% slowdown in the rate of annual house price inflation since October.”
Northern Ireland
Property prices in Northern Ireland have continued to see improvements with a year on year increase of 8.8%, but prices remain -44% lower than the height of the market in 2007/08.
England
London, the South East and the East are the only regions to have exceeded their previous high of 2007/8.
The South West region has improved, but prices remain -6% off their 2007/08 market high.
The East and West Midlands are slowly improving, but remain down on their market height by -11% and-12% respectively.
The North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber property prices have some way to go to reach the 2007/08 market high, remaining down between -17% and -23% and may not recover for 10 years or more.
Download my full report for February 2015
Kate Faulkner’s Market Commentary:
“An interesting start to our 2015 election year! Time will tell as to whether buyers will hold off until after the election, especially in the £2million+ market for fear of an introduction in mansion tax, whereas other markets are likely to steadily move forward as, whatever happens, people still have a need to move and that means they must buy and sell, whether the market is moving up or down.”
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