UK house prices up 1.1% in October - Rightmove
House prices in England and Wales rose 1.1% in October - or £3,432 - following a 1.2% decline in September, according to the latest data from Rightmove.
The index has recorded an increase in October every year since it started in 2001, but Rightmove said this month’s is the largest since the 1.4% rise seen in 2014.
New sellers asked higher prices in eight out of ten regions despite a drop in the number of sales agreed in nine of the ten this month compared to September 2016.
On the year, prices were up 1.4% compared to a 1.1% rise in September.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s director and housing market analyst, said: “With Christmas some 69 days away and the average time to find a buyer being 63 days, many of the 104,000 new sellers this month will be hoping to agree a sale before Christmas. It will be harder for this Autumn’s sellers to secure a sale because buyers have more choice with a 3.1% increase in new seller numbers compared to this time a year ago. In addition, the number of sales agreed was running ahead of 2016 over the summer, but has now fallen back with a 5.9% decrease compared to last September.
“New sellers’ pricing optimism may therefore be unfounded in some parts of the country. While this month sees higher asking prices in eight out of ten regions, sales agreed are below this time a year ago in nine out of ten. With buyers becoming more Scrooge-like with their cash, sellers who have undercut the average 1.1% rise in asking prices may stand a better chance of finding a buyer before Christmas, especially if they are in one of the more active parts of the market.”
Rightmove said the properties that are moving the quickest are in the second-stepper property sector, those with three or four bedrooms except four bedroom detached, where the average time taken to find a buyer is 60 days. Typical first-time-buyer type properties, with two bedrooms or fewer, also just undercut the average with time to sell being 62 days.