Housing market growth remains steady despite uncertainty

According to the most recent UK House Price Index from HM Land Registry, the average UK property has experienced a value increase of 0.3 per cent to £234,742, continuing the trend of slight, but nonetheless steady, growth which the British housing sector has experienced since the Summer.

Looking back over the course of 2019, property value growth has been evident since the Summer when house prices increased by a proportion of 0.5 per cent in June, 0.7 per cent in July, and 0.8 per cent in August, with steady growth of 0.4 per cent being recorded in November and now 0.3 per cent for the final month of December.

When looking through an annual scope however, the average UK house price has increased by a proportion of 2.2 per cent.

By way of country, England has had slightly more success than the UK as a whole, with the average property value having increased by 0.6 per cent in December from the previous month, bringing the average property value to £251,711., although the annual growth of the English housing market matched that of the UK.

Taking a closer look into each region of England, the area which experienced the greatest monthly price rise was the East of England after going up by a proportion of 2.1 per cent, to a figure of £297,714, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber which increased by a proportion of 1.7 per cent, to a sum of £168,382.

Whereas on the other end of the spectrum, the worst performing region in terms of property value in the month of December was that of the North West, which saw a contraction of 0.6 per cent to £166,003, with the next worst performing region being the West Midlands where prices likewise fell by 0.4 per cent, to a new figure of £201,343.

In an annual context, the best performing region of 2019 was identified as Yorkshire and the Humber by the UK House Price Index, with house prices having risen by a percentage of 3.9, to a monetary value of £168,382, while the worst performing region over the course of the year was identified as the South East, which experienced marginal growth of 1.2 per cent.

Unfortunately, Wales did not experience a productive month in terms of house price growth, with the value of the average property in December having declined by a proportion of two per cent when compared against the month of November, bring the average house price to £165,735.

In regard to repossession sales, however, England has a grand total of 649 for the month of October 2019, with region experiencing the most being identified, unsurprisingly, as the North West with 160 sales, whereas the English region with the least repossession sales was revealed to, yet again, be the East of England, which experienced just 16 sales.

In contrast to this, Wales experienced just 49 repossession sales in the month of December.

At the start of the month, the Chief Commercial Officer at Zoopla, Andy Marshall, commented on the state of the British housing market, saying: “Confidence is slowly returning among buyers, but this is moderated by a feeling of caution among sellers, with ongoing economic uncertainty causing them to doubt whether they will achieve the asking price they believe their property is worth.

“What is more, there are increasing numbers of people who are active in the property market and those seeking a new property are serious about making a move.”

Adding to this, the Managing Director of Halifax, Russell Galley, stated: “There is no doubt that the next year will be important for the housing market with much of the immediate focus on what impact Brexit may have. However, more fundamentally it is key underlying factors of supply and demand that will ultimately shape the market.”

If you would like to read more articles like this then please click here.

The post Housing market growth remains steady despite uncertainty appeared first on UK Construction Online.