Search Share Prices
New UK home asking prices rise 0.7% in January, Rightmove says
Asking prices for new homes coming to market rose in January by slightly more than a year ago, but continued to lag the pace of gains seen in previous years, according to property website Rightmove.
"Price rises have had a good run and the return of the days of optimistic pricing is consequently some years away and contingent upon earnings increasing and interest rates remaining low," Rightmove director and housing analyst, Miles Shipside, said.
Citing its own traffic data for the month-to-date, Rightmove said asking prices were up by 0.7% month-on-month to £297,587, versus the 0.6% increase recorded over the same period one year ago.
Gains in both those months were also well below the average 1.9% rise seen at that same time of year between 2013 and 2016, Rightmove said.
Rightmove also noted the sharp dispersion when looking at the annual rate of price gains for different segments of the market, with those of newly-marketed properties 1.1% higher, while in some regions and at a more local level prices were running ahead by between 4% and 6%.
In London on the other hand, prices were down by 3.5% year-on-year - their biggest fall since 2009 - to reach 600,926.
The largest price declines were recorded among properties located in Zone 2 (-6.4%) and Zone 3 (-7.7%).
Stretched buyer affordability continued to be a factor, alongside political uncertainty, offset by tight supply and the recent near abolition of stamp duty for first time buyers.
Nonetheless, according to Rightmove early indications showed that demand continued to be "robust", with visits to its website up by 9% on 2017, for an average of more than 4.0m visits each day.