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Signs of a resilient market in November’s House Price Index

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Rightmove’s House Price Index released this week shows that London and the commuter belt are still the fastest selling regions in the UK. Here are some of the key findings from their research:

  • The price of property coming to market in London falls by a seasonal 0.3% (-?1,995) this month, a much smaller fall than the 1.5% average drop seen over the last six years
  • In spite of the re-adjusting market in both the capital and the neighbouring commuter-belt regions of the South East and East of England, their average time to sell is still quicker than in the rest of the country: average time between first marketing and sale agreed in London, South East and East of England is 56 days, compared to an average of 65 days for the rest of the country

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: ?Overall, house prices continue to hold up well. This is the smallest drop in average November asking prices since we saw the same figure of -1.1% in November 2011. Furthermore, the average time to sell of 65 days is one day quicker than at this time last year. However, price resilience is not good news for cash-strapped aspiring first-time buyers, and in spite of the more subdued time of year the smaller properties that they typically target have increased in price this month, the only market sector to show an increase. Compared to 12 months ago the price of newly-marketed properties with two bedrooms or fewer is up by over 8%, twice the rate of the sectors containing properties with three bedrooms or more. In the sprint to get onto the housing ladder, wage inflation to help meet lender affordability ratios and to save for the larger deposits required is being comprehensively outrun by price increases.?

The government has pledged to help this increasingly frustrated group, and many will be hoping for some good news in the Chancellor?s forthcoming Autumn statement on 23rd November.

 

Posted in ASR News

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