Housing Market Report Reveals Higher Asking Prices for New Property Listings
First time buyers are having a harder time in finding an affordable home as asking prices increased 6.2% in a month’s time. The increase comes on the heels of the rush to buy and mortgage by landlords and second home buyers as they sought to escape the deadline for the tax increase on 1 April. A 3% surcharge in tax was put upon second homes up until the deadline.
Rightmove reported that the average homes coming onto the market with two bedrooms or fewer was £11,298 higher in May than in April at an average of £194,224. Their figures show that based on properties listed for the month those most likely targeted for first time buyers rose 11.4% since May of last year.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s director, said, “It remains to be seen if these prices can be achieved and there may be some over pricing in the market. It is also a reflection of better quality property coming to market in this sector which is now targeting owner-occupiers rather than landlords.”
Overall, across all property types, asking prices increased by 0.4% to an average price of £308,151.
The average house price across the UK fell slightly according to some house price indices reported. This was expected, but it will be interesting to see if that is a trend that continues throughout the next few months as the market corrects.
Meanwhile, mortgage lending is expected to find new borrowers as homeowners seek to remortgage and find savings while cheap interest rates are still available.