Market Reports

Although we are almost at the end of 2023, the news keeps coming. November saw the Chancellor deliver his Autumn Statement. Although there were no major changes for home movers, there were some peripheral announcements to note.

We often talk about seasonality in property and this autumn has been true to form. September saw serious movers enter the market after summer and their intent is already reflected in October’s figures. Firstly, we look at asking prices.

How do you tell if a General Election is on the cards? You monitor the news for announcements that may please the masses. Property has long been an area the Government tinkers with and ministers are already repositioning their offering to win votes in England and Wales.

There’s no doubt that the property market is cooling after the unsustainable pandemic levels. While the interest rate and inflation have served to moderate buyers’ plans, property values are naturally returning to more sensible levels. Equilibrium is being provided by falling mortgage rates.

July is a month when people are away on annual leave or are juggling school holidays, and home moving activity usually reflects this. In the last four weeks, however, Rightmove found buyer demand remains strong. In fact, it’s currently 3% higher than the same time in 2019.

While it was the hottest June since records began, the property market started its summer cool down early. Rightmove cited the new 5% interest rate as a reason for earlier-than-usual changes. Its June headline revealed the first monthly drop in asking prices in 2023.

Although it sounds like a tenuous connection, the property market and the weather are linked. The arrival of early summer has coincided with the traditional uptick in house prices. This May, Rightmove has noted an extraordinary correlation between warmer temperatures and property values.

With a third of the year complete, it’s a good time to appraise the property market. If your primary concern is the direction of house prices, Rightmove can shed light. It found the average house price in Great Britain had climbed 0.2% in April to £366,247.

December saw signs that the sales market was regulating. Rightmove’s latest figures revealed the average price of a property coming to market dropped by 2.1% in the final weeks of 2022. This equated to -£7,862, indicating sellers are adjusting their price expectations in line with current sentiment.

We have been holding our breath to see how political and economic changes have affected the property market. Thankfully, whispers of a crash have proven unfounded and we much prefer Zoopla’s take on conditions. The portal says we’re experiencing a property market ‘shake out’.

It was all change across the UK in October, starting in England. It was only a month ago that we wrote about a new Prime Minister and Chancellor at the helm. Unbelievably, we are reporting the very same news a matter of weeks later, swapping Liz Truss for Rishi Sunak and Kwasi Kwarteng for Jeremy Hunt.

September was a month of disruption. With a new Prime Minister and Chancellor at the helm, changes marked the inauguration of this new partnership. First up alterations to the stamp duty thresholds.