Benham & Reeves Market Index Review
September 13, 2019
Property market shows signs of life but asking price expectations remain out of kilter with wider market conditions
The latest Market Index Review report by lettings and sales agent, Benham and Reeves, has looked at the current state of UK and London property prices based on aggregated data from the four leading house price indices (Halifax, Nationwide, Rightmove and the Land Registry), as well as the current reality gap between the mortgage approval prices of home buyers, the asking price expectation of sellers and the reality of sold prices in current market conditions.
- The latest report shows that based on date from Nationwide, Halifax, Rightmove and the Land Registry, the current UK house price during the second quarter of this year is £251,682, up 1.7% quarterly and 1.4% annually – the first quarterly increase since Q3, 2018.
- In London, the current average price is £512,193, up 1.5% annually and the first quarterly increase since Q2, 2018, although prices are still down -1.6% annually.
- When looking at the price buyers are securing at the mortgage approval stage compared to the asking price expectations of home sellers, there is a 36.2% gap across the UK and a 32.7% gap in the capital.
- When looking at the final stages of the property selling process, UK buyers are paying -25.5% less on average than the average asking price, while in London, buyers are paying -24.5% less than the average asking price in the capital.
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