Properties continue to move swiftly through the market, thanks to elevated demand, according to Home.co.uk's Asking Price Index for December. 

Consequently, agents' portfolios have been thinned out, thereby reducing the national stock level despite increased supply.

Pricing remains tight, however, with all regions indicating average price reductions, the magnitude of which is more than merely seasonal. Vendors are clearly motivated and therefore pricing competitively.   

Overall, the vital signs of the UK property sales market confirm that it is operating normally. Property through­put is currently higher than many of the pre-COVID years. Room for further price growth appears limited due to affordability constraints.

Average asking prices in Eng­land and Wales remain notably lower than the peak pricing observed in the summer months of 2022.

Whilst expectations of lower inter­est rates going forward have buoyed confidence in the market, fears of increased taxation and restrictive legislation persist, especially among landlords.

Consequently, we expect landlords to continue to offload their least profitable properties, thereby adding to sales supply but reduc­ing rental property availability. On a regional basis, yields continue to be better in the North than in London and the South.

UK asking rent growth is now sub-inflation (0.8%).

But it is important to reiterate that this annualised national growth figure obscures the enormous differences regionally between Greater London at -1.9% and the two best perform­ers, East Midlands (+12.7%) and Yorkshire (+11.0%). This is due to the predominance of rental properties in the capital.

The annualised mix-adjusted aver­age asking price growth (sales) across England and Wales is now 1.7%; in December 2023, the annualised growth of home prices was 0.1%.

Headlines

• The unsold sales stock count for England and Wales plummeted by around 30,000 properties during the last month, making the current total 465,129. This is the largest such fall since December 2019.
• Asking prices continue their seasonal decline, falling by 1.0% since last month across England and Wales; this is a drop that slightly exceeds purely seasonal variance. Annualised home price growth reduced to just 1.7% overall.
• The UK property market continues to indicate significant momentum. Property turnover continues to be higher than during most of the last ten years and Typical Time on Market remains significantly lower than in pre-pandemic December 2019.
• The total number of new instructions entering the market during November 2024 was 10% more than during November 2023. London saw the highest regional increase, up by 17%.
• Seasonal price falls were observed in all English regions, Scotland and Wales since last month. The largest drop was in Scotland (2.2%).
• The North East holds its top position in regional property market growth, albeit with the year-on-year gain decreasing to 5.8%. In second place is Yorkshire at 4.4%.
• The East of England is the worst performing region, indicating no change (0.0%) over the last twelve months.
• Overall, when taking inflation into account, the sales market has not yet achieved real growth.
• The annualised national growth for asking rents is just 0.8% overall. This mix-adjusted average is affected disproportionately by London's rent falls (-1.9%). However, the South West, Wales, East Midlands and Yorkshire continue to indicate double-digit growth year-on-year.
• The City of London followed by Hackney indicate the largest declines of all London boroughs, with annualised rental falls of 9.7% and 9.1%, respectively. 

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