Despite negative economic news regarding the wider UK economy, the UK property market retains significant optimism, according to Home.co.uk's Asking Price Index for March.

The flow rate of properties moving through the sales market is relatively high, thanks to substantial demand. Rising asking prices during the last month were supported by seasonal optimism and a moderation in supply following the surge in new instructions seen in January.

Notably, pricing continues to be strongest in the northern regions and weakest in London and adjacent regions. Rental yields are undeniably a key driver of regional growth disparity, directing investment away from arguably over­valued locations predominantly in the South towards the northern regions.

Overall, the vital signs of the UK prop­erty sales market indicate a positive state of health, due mainly to continued demand in the North.

However, vendors and agents alike understand that the cur­rent level of demand is unlikely to be sus­tained after the increase in stamp duty on April 1st. By how much buyer appetite is quenched is anyone's guess. Should demand fall significantly, the latter part of the year will be a miserable experi­ence for the UK property market, given the vast amount of inventory already on the market.

Yorkshire remains the regional growth leader with the mix-adjusted average asking price now an impressive 5.4% higher than a year ago, while the South East shows a paltry 0.3% growth, just ahead of the East of England at 0.4%.

UK annualised asking rent growth falls back to 1.3% overall, which is well below inflation. However, the national average continues to be dragged down by the very large Greater London lettings market where asking rents continue their steady overall decline. The East Midlands remains the best performing region, indicating rental growth of 9.2% year-on-year.

The annualised mix-adjusted average asking price growth (sales) across Eng­land and Wales is now 1.9%; in March 2024, the annualised growth of home prices was 0.1%.

Headlines

• Asking prices rose in every English region, Scotland and Wales during February, making the national average rise by 0.5%. The rise is typical of seasonal trends and was bolstered by a moderation of supply. However, annualised home price growth across England and Wales remains below the level of inflation at just 1.8% overall.
• The huge surge in new instructions that occurred in January seems to have been transient. Supply of new sales properties entering the market during February 2025 was no more than during February 2024 overall, although there is regional variation, with minor increases still visible in London, the South East and the South West.
• The most bullish vendors are in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West, posting the largest month-on-month gains of 1.0%, 0.9% and 0.9% respectively.
• Yorkshire retains the position of regional property market growth leader with an impressive year-on-year gain of 5.4%. Meanwhile, the South East retains its position as the worst regional performer with an annualised gain of just 0.3%.
• Sales market momentum shows a slight increase over March 2024. Property turnover is currently higher than any of the previous ten years of March readings, while Typical Time on Market remains the same as in March last year.
• The unsold sales stock count for England and Wales increased by just 6,000 properties during the last month, which is in line with seasonal expectations. The current total of 475,444 is relatively high and is the largest March figure since 2013.
• The annualised national growth in asking rents is now a mere 1.3% (while supply is up 16%), which is well below the rate of inflation. This national figure is significantly discounted by the negative performance of London, the UK's largest regional rental market (rents down 1.6% while the 12-month change in supply is up 9.0%). Meanwhile, regions showing exceptional performance are the East Midlands and Yorkshire, indicating rental growth of 9.2% and 7.6% respectively year-on-year.
• The City of London followed by Hackney indicate the largest declines in asking rents of all London boroughs, with annualised rental falls of 17.9% and 6.7% respectively. Meanwhile, the best performers are Westminster and Wandsworth, with rents increasing by 8.9% and 8.3% respectively.

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