Yahoo Finance Property: Average UK house price drops to £359,137
The average price of houses hitting the market has dropped by 2.1% to £359,137 as sellers try to close deals.
The £7,862 dip in new asking prices means that at the end of 2022, average asking prices are 5.6% higher than at this time a year ago, according to Rightmove.
“Though we would always expect prices to drop in December, as motivated sellers try to capture the attention of a buyer before Christmas with a competitive price, this monthly dip is the largest we’ve seen for four years,” Tim Bannister Rightmove’s director of property science, said.
“It‘s an understandable short-term reaction to the economic turmoil and unexpectedly rapid mortgage rate rises and reduction in availability of mortgage products that we saw in late September and October, before things began to settle down. Despite this we end the year with average asking price growth of 5.6%, which is only slightly lower than the 6.3% last year,” he added.
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Righmove is predicting an overall drop of 2% in average asking prices next year as prospective homebuyers deal with rising mortgage rates combined with inflation.
“After two and a half years of frenetic activity it’s easy to forget that having multiple bidders immediately lining up to buy your home was the exception rather than the norm in pre-pandemic years, and there will be a period of readjustment for home-movers as properties take longer to find the right buyer.
“We’re heading towards a more even balance between supply and demand next year, but we don’t expect a surge in forced sales which would cause a glut of properties for sale and contribute to more significant price falls in 2023. This is reflected in our prediction of a relatively modest average fall of 2% next year,” Bannister said.
Still, the number of views of homes for sale on Rightmove was up 11% compared to this time last year, a sign that there are many potential movers who are monitoring the market and weighing up their options.
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It’s understandable that some buyers are distracted, not only by the festive season, but also by the thought that they may get a better fixed-rate mortgage deal and a more stable outlook by waiting until the new year.
“Our data suggests that there are many ready-to-go movers out there waiting for what they feel to be the right time to enter the market in 2023. We’d usually see a jump in home-mover activity in January, but it takes a while at the start of the year for any significant price changes to feed through, so we’ll be waiting for a potential bounce back in prices in February, which will be a very important leading indicator for the spring moving season.”
