Miles Shipside
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Latest property news
Strong home mover demand pushes up average asking price by 1.5%
Newly marketed properties in the UK have risen by an average of £4,503 says Rightmove, with prices highest in the first timer and second stepper sectors.
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Latest property news
House hunters are returning to the property market, claims Rightmove
The latest house price index from Rightmove reveal rising home hunter activity, an increase in properties coming to market, and asking prices going up in all but one region of the UK. Also, the portal says the contraction in the number of homes being sold in recent months is now losing steam. Its figures, which are for January, reveal that the average asking price has increased by 0.8% across the UK; that the number of properties coming to market rose by 2%; and that agent stock held steady (see graph, right). Also, the number of homes sold contracted by only -1.6% during January, compared to -5.5% in the final quarter of 2017. As well as reporting record traffic to its website at 141 million visits last month, Rightmove says the hottest property market is in the Midlands, where asking prices are rising three times faster than the national average. “The average price of newly-marketed property in the Midlands is up by over 5% compared to a year ago, a marked contrast to parts of London and its commuter belt,” says Rightmove’s Miles Shipside (pictured, left). “Many buyers in the Midlands are willing and able to pay more to secure their…
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Latest property news
New Year property market gets off to a roaring start, claims Rightmove
The first weeks of the New Year property market have begun well with increased numbers of buyers looking for homes and asking prices rising, says Rightmove. Its monthly snapshot of the property market reveals that the number of visits to its online listings of sales properties is up 9% so far this month compared to last year. Also, asking prices for newly-listed homes are up 0.7% compared to last year. But Rightmove warns that, despite the rise in interest during the New Year, buyers are extremely wary on price, and that the number of sales agreed during the final three months of last year was down by 5.5% compared to the same period the year before. Rightmove also hints that while in more normal times the current stretched buyer affordability and uncertain political outlook might have seen prices tumbling, a surge in first time buyers following the recent Stamp Duty reductions, plus a lack of supply in the market, is instead pushing prices up. “Considering some of the gales that buffeted the market in the latter part of 2017, these early readings for 2018 show that there is currently a good following wind of search activity,” says Rightmove Director Miles…
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Latest property news
Agent stock down 6.75% compared to 2015, latest Rightmove index figures reveal
The average level of sales stock per estate agent branch has dropped by 6.75% compared to 2015, the latest Rightmove index reveals. This decrease in the number of homes available for sale is across the board; for every month so far this year the average figure is lower than the same month two years ago. During 2015, historical Rightmove data shows, agents had 61.8 properties on their books on average, which has now dropped by four properties to 57.6 properties. Rightmove says in its report that overall estate agents’ stock of property for sale remains “tight” particularly further north where demand is exceeding supply. Northern price rises This is also pushing up prices faster in the north than the south – Rightmove says the North East’s housing market is experiencing the fastest asking price growth at the moment, up 1.3% month-on-month and 4.7% year-on-year. Also, it’s the regions above London that are doing the best year-on-year as London, the SE and SW all experiencing weaker price growth than their northern counterparts. Rightmove is also pessimistic about next year, which it says will see asking price growth of 1% overall. “2018 will continue the 2017 trend by being a real mixed…
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Latest property news
Asking price reductions at their highest for five years, says Rightmove
Over a third of properties for sale in the UK have had their original asking prices cut since being listed, says the latest Rightmove house price index. At 37% of all existing homes for sale, this is the highest proportion dropping their prices during the autumn months for five years (see graph below), the portal says. This pushed down asking prices by 0.8% during October, the index shows, with price reductions heaviest at the top of property ladder. Rightmove says it’s a buyers’ market now and that vendors should be “wary of over-pricing” and that holding out for a Stamp Duty reduction in next week’s Budget statement to boost buyer activity. Price cutting following the Summer market high-point is a pre-Xmas tradition within the property market but the proportion of homes for sale being cut in price has been rising over the past three years and is now at a peak. “In the run-up to the festive season many sellers are trying to tempt distracted buyers to look at their property by dangling the bauble of more attractive pricing given the quieter time of year and more challenging market,” says Miles Shipside (pictured, right). “Many sellers who have been on…
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Latest property news
Property market slowdown worst at top of market, says Rightmove
The largest houses are taking the longest to find buyers as the property market slowdown continues, it has been revealed. Rightmove’s monthly house price index reveals that across the UK properties with five bedrooms and detached four-bedroom houses are taking 76 days to sell, while in London it’s 86 days. The average time to sell across the UK for all properties is 63 days, the portal says. Property market slowdown Rightmove believes the slowdown at the “top of the ladder” is helping soften the sales market overall. In London the number of sales agreed compared to same period a year ago is down by 9%, while southern counties have experienced a dip of 7.8%. The north has fared better, Rightmove says, with a dip of just 3%. But these are only year-on-year figures – better than expected sales across the UK earlier this year means sales so far this year are ahead of 2016. “Sales agreed numbers are holding up better in the north, whilst a common factor throughout the country is the lower and middle market sectors being the most active,” says Rightmove director Miles Shipside (pictured, left) “However, where property prices have far outstripped buyers’ wages, and consequently…
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Housing Market
Too good to be true? Rightmove says sales up 5% across UK
The number of homes sold in the UK during September is nearly 5% higher than last year, latest research from Rightmove reveals. The portal also says people’s earnings are now rising faster than house prices rises, the first time this has happened since the early noughties. Rightmove’s monthly house price index says “demand remains strong for the right property at the right price” but that prices are rising by 1.1% on average across the UK, the lowest annual rise since February 2012. The portal says the average price for a home in the UK during September is 313,663, down from £330,003 in August and a 1.2% drop despite the overall annual rise. It’s part of a trend that has included drops in price or very weak increases since June. This trend bucks the usual post-Summer bounce that the property market enjoys as buyers and sellers stimulate the market after their return from holidays and activity ramps up. Damp squib Rightmove blames this“damp squib” Autumn market on London’s faltering performance, where prices dropped by 2.9% during September, although prices have been falling month-on-month elsewhere including in Wales (-3.3%), the South West (-0.7%) and the West Midlands (-1.3%). London is the only…
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Latest property news
Property market is over EU referendum shock, claims Rightmove
Rightmove says the property market has recovered from the shock of the EU Referendum with more sellers coming to market and more people buying than a year ago. Its latest house price index reveals that there were 4.6% more sales agreed last month compared to June 2016, and 7.6% more properties coming to the market. “The half way point of 2017 is a useful time to make a comparison with the previous year and the number of sales being agreed by agents is uncannily within fractions of a percent of the number at the same half-way point of last year,” says Miles Shipside of Rightmove (pictured, left). “This year and last year have had their own shocks and distortions, but these statistics show that the distractions have been short-lived and have now evened themselves out. “While the number of existing owners coming to market this month is up in eight out of ten regions compared to a year ago, giving more fresh choice, it has to be kept in mind that the comparison is against a subdued new listing period in 2016 around the time of the referendum.” Despite the upbeat market data, prices are at a “virtual standstill” across…
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Latest property news
Sales agreed rise to highest levels in three years, says Rightmove
Rightmove says the number of sales agreed in the UK rose by 7% last month compared to a year ago, making it the busiest May since 2014 and the second busiest over the past decade. But it’s a headline figure that hides wide variations in performance from region to region. Although Rightmove paints an upbeat assessment of the market including rising numbers of home sold in all regions, it says that sales agreed in the north increased the most at 11% compared to 3% in the south. Rightmove’s sales agreed figures make no mention of London, which many agents have said is experiencing a significant slowdown so far this year. This includes Savills, which recently described the capital as “falling back to 2015 levels”. But Rightmove does hint at what’s going on in London and its commuter towns. It says prices in London dropped by 2.4% during May, and 0.9% in the South East. Central London prices fared the worst – for example Kingston upon Thames house prices dipped by 6.7% , City of Westminster by 4.4% and Islington by 6%. “London and its commuter belt are proving to be a drag on the national figures, but are currently counter-balanced…
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Latest property news
Sales agreed, prices and time to sell increasing despite election, says Rightmove
This summer’s election campaign is having a less corrosive effect on sales levels than two years ago when David Cameron made his bid for power, Rightmove has claimed. Its monthly house price index reveals that the number of sales agreed so far this year is 2% higher than during the lead up to the 2015 general election. Rightmove also reckons that the number of days it takes to sell a property is reducing too, down from 79 days in January 2017 to 60 days in April 2017. The reduction is even sharper in London, where in January it took 71 days to sell a home, compared to 53 days in April. Stock levels are rising too, Rightmove says. The number of properties for sale per agent has risen from 52 in January to 57 in April. House prices are also rising, the portal’s index reveals, increasing during April by 1.2% or £3,626 on average, the fifth consecutive rise. All-time high “Whilst all-time high asking prices or economic and political uncertainty could be deterrents to would-be home-buyers, this month shows another strong set of figures,” says Rightmove’s spokesman and director Miles Shipside (pictured, left). “Demand is exceeding supply in many parts of the country…
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