The average asking price for a UK home stands at a record £245,200, according to Zoopla’s March UK House Price Index.
In this blog, 24housing takes a look at:
- what £245,200 can buy you around Great Britain
- the current housing market
Read on to discover where you can get the most house for your money!
Listings under the current average asking price of £245,200 include:
River Lea Mews, Madeley, Crewe, is priced at £240,000. It has two bedrooms, a lounge with patio doors, a kitchen-diner, a driveway and detached garage. There’s a well presented, private rear garden with steps to a stream and a low maintenance front garden. This mews house has a useable loft room with Velux windows, which is currently used as a study. It’s close to local schools and amenities and is for sale with Heywoods.
This modern and spacious one bedroom flat is on Grinstead Road, Deptford, London. It’s on the second floor and has a large living room, a fitted kitchen and an allocated parking space. It is close to shops and there are excellent transport links from Deptford and Canada Water tube station. Reflecting the high asking prices in the south east, the flat is priced at offers over £244,000, with Bettermove.
Archford at Harland Way, Cottingham, near Beverley, is a three-bedroom semi-detached home. Inside, there is a modern open plan kitchen-dining room with French doors to the rear garden and a spacious lounge. The main bedroom has an en-suite bathroom; there are two further bedrooms and a family bathroom. This home is priced at £244,000 with David Wilson Homes – Harland Park.
This three-bedroom semi-detached house on Dean Park Drive, Drighlington, Bradford is priced at offers over £240,000. It has a modern kitchen, central heating, double glazing, a spacious lounge-diner, a driveway, car port and garage and is close to local amenities and public transport. It is for sale with Drighlington Properties.
5 Backworth Lane, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is a three-bedroom stone cottage in the heart of the village of Backworth. Formerly a public house, the property has been converted into houses and apartments. Number 5 has a stylish kitchen-diner, oak doors, a luxury family bathroom, master bedroom with en-suite bathroom, two further double bedrooms, courtyard parking to the rear and a patio garden. It is for sale for offers in the region of £244,000 with Purple Bricks.
Heading to the north west, Weavermill Park, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan is a four-bedroom detached house which is close to schools and shops. Set over three floors, it has two reception rooms, a master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, a family bathroom and gardens to the front and rear. It is for sale with Leaders of Warrington.
The Dudley, Forest Road, Hugglescote, Leicestershire, is a two-bedroom semi-detached house with a Georgian-inspired exterior style, an open plan kitchen-diner, integrated appliances, a driveway with parking for two cars and a 10 year NHBC warranty. It is for sale through the Davidsons Group with an asking price of £244,995.
Close to the beach is this three-bedroom bungalow in Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire. Maranatha, on Valley Road, needs a full renovation. It has two reception rooms, three bedrooms, a lounge, dining room, kitchen, study and bathroom. There are gardens to the front and rear, a driveway and detached double garage. Saundersfoot is a popular seaside village close to the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. The property is priced at £242,600 with FBM Estate Agents.
This three-bedroom end terrace house on Hillesdon Road, Torquay, is a character property on the edge of the seaside resort, with open views across the moors to the front. It has a spacious lounge, dining room, modern fitted kitchen, parking space for one car and an enclosed courtyard. The harbour and town amenities are close by and there are good transport links to Paignton and Brixham. The asking price is £240,000 and is being sold by Absolute Sales & Lettings.
This three-bedroom extended semi-detached house on Broomfield Drive, Bodmin, Cornwall, has ann asking price of £240,000 with Miller Countrywide, Bodmin. It stands on a popular residential development and is in need of some internal improvements. There is a lounge, dining room, kitchen, ground floor bedroom with en-suite bathroom, two bedrooms on the first floor and a shower room. It has mains gas central heating, double glazing, a garden and driveway.
Conveniently situated for shops, schools, leisure facilities, open spaces and woodland walks, this 3-bedroom detached house at Pinkieknowe, Stirling, Stirlingshire is in good condition and provides excellent family accommodation. It has a hall, a spacious lounge and dining area, a modern kitchen, cloakroom, three double bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom, and a family bathroom. There is gas central heating, double glazing, an enclosed rear garden and an integrated garage. Offers of over £240,000 are being asked by Your Move.
Within comfortable commuting distance of Doncaster and Barnsley, this four-bedroom detached house on Church Street, Bolton-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, has a guide price of £240,000-£250,000. Generously proportioned, it has a flexible layout with modern fixtures and fittings, three bathrooms, a driveway, garage and a good-sized rear garden. There are local schools nearby and a train station within walking distance. It is being sold by Hunters-Dearne Valley.
For a look at property hotspots around the UK, visit 24Housing’s article: Where have house prices changed most in the last ten years.
Property data from the housing market
Estate agents report new asking price records around Great Britain, driven in part by the stamp duty holiday and householders seeking larger homes following the pandemic.
Zoopla, Rightmove, Nationwide and Halifax all publish monthly data on house price indices, and each reports year-on-year record high price growth of between 10.4% and 12 .6%. As they all work from different sales data, their calculations of average prices for March 2022 vary from £245,200 to £354,564. They all predict a slower rate of price growth, but little prospect of asking prices falling.
Fierce competition from buyers is keeping asking prices high, according to Zoopla, which says that interest in family homes is twice as high as usual for the first quarter of a year. Average prices rose by 8.1% in the year to February and demand was up by 65% in the four weeks to March 20th against the five-year average. In contrast, the supply of new sellers coming to the market is up by 5% in the month to March, against a five-year average.
The highest regional price spike was seen in Wales at +11.8%, while the lowest growth was in London, at +3.2%. Overall sales have been up by 30% in the first quarter and more sales have been made in London this year than in the same period last year.
With new record asking prices being achieved and little sign of prices falling, buying your dream home is becoming a distant prospect. Would-be purchasers, including first time buyers, may consider building their own homes in an effort to own property. To find out the options visit 24Housing’s blog on the subject: How to decide whether to buy a house or build one?
Head of research at Zoopla, Gráinne Gilmore said:
Buyer demand remains elevated as the trends that emerged during the pandemic – a reassessment among households about where and how they are living – continue to drive the market. Demand is strongest for family houses, indicating a continued appetite for more space. But demand is up across nearly all property types, indicating that those thinking of moving are in a better position to sell. Given the tick up in new listings of homes for sale, there is now a wider choice of homes for all buyers. The increased economic headwinds, including the rising costs of living and increasing mortgage rates, will see property prices start to moderate as we move through the second half of 2022.”
According to Zoopla, more houses are coming to market as many sellers aim to make the most of the record high price rises, but not enough to offset the high demand level. Liverpool leads price increases among the major cities, at +10.3% on the year and 32% over the last five years. In second place is Nottingham, with +9.5% annual growth and a +36% rise in values since 2017.
Average asking prices
The biggest price increases have been seen in areas of high demand and lower average prices: the average price of a house in Wales is £186,200 compared to the UK national average of £245,200. Values have also been affected by the working from home trend as well as local markets. In London, the average price of a house is now almost 11 times the average income, whereas in the north of England it’s five times average earnings.
The market outlook
Mortgage rates are rising, which is increasing buyers’ appetite for locking into a mortgage rate now. Zoopla is seeing strong buyer demand across the board, especially for family homes: demand for three-bedroom properties is over twice as high as usual for this stage of the year as buyers want their next home to be bigger. Demand has also risen in key cities; since January by 5% in Birmingham; 7% in Newcastle and in smaller towns such as Blackpool 20% and Swindon 19% since last year.
Zoopla reports that sales subject to contract so far in 2022 are more than 30% higher than in the first financial quarter of 2020. Houses listed for sale across the average estate agency branch are up 3.5% in the month to March 20th, and the stock of houses for sale is now 42% below the 5-year average. Buyer demand and limited stock continues to increase prices: average home values are up 8.1% on the year, an increase from 4.2% last February.
Halifax findings
Halifax data produces an average price of £278,123 (a 10.8% annual increase). Prices grew by 0.8% in February, the eighth rise in consecutive months, making the annual growth rate the strongest in 15 years. In the previous two years since February 2020, average property values have risen by 16%, or £38,709. In line with Zoopla’s findings, Halifax reports that Wales has seen the strongest price rises of 13.8% followed by the southwest (13.4%) and Northern Ireland (13.1%).
Russell Galley, managing director of the Halifax, said that the competitive market seen in the pandemic shows no sign of abating. He commented:
Year on year prices grew by 10.8%, the fastest pace of annual growth since June 2007. Two years on from the start of the pandemic, average property values have now risen by £38,799 (+16%) since February 2020. Over the last year alone, asking prices have gained on average £27,215. This is the biggest one-year cash rise recorded in over 39 years of index history.
Lack of supply continues to underpin rising house prices, with recent industry surveys showing a dearth of new properties being listed, now a long-term trend. This may be a particular issue at the larger end of the property market. Over the last year the average price of detached properties has risen at a rate more than four times that of flats in cash terms.
He added that the war in Ukraine, rising gas and oil prices, inflationary pressure on household incomes, increases in the Bank Rate and potential pay rises are likely to impact on buyer demand. Halifax is forecasting market activity to return to more normal levels with prices settling.
Rightmove
Property portal Rightmove recorded a new average price record of £354,564 for March and a 10.4% annual growth in prices, the highest in eight years. Average asking prices grew by 1.7% month on month, or £5,760.
According to Rightmove, the competitive market will remain but the changing economic outlook is an increasingly important factor. Rightmove’s director of property data, Tim Bannister, said:
All sectors of the market are experiencing very brisk conditions and we expect the strong market to continue until economic forces combine to move the supply and demand balance closer towards equilibrium. There are headwinds that seem likely to remove the current market froth in the second half of the year. Our forecast is that average transactions numbers for 2022 will revert back to pre-pandemic levels as the market returns to a more even balance. Currently, the number of sales being agreed by estate agents is 11% higher compared to the same period in the more normal market in 2019.
Nationwide property data
Figures from Nationwide show that a typical home is worth £260,230, an increase of £29,162 over the past year. They record an annual price increase of 12.6%, making the average price asked for a house 20% higher than it was in 2020. Nationwide says that the market is still strong despite rising inflation, increases to the Bank Rate and pressure on household incomes. Robert Gardner, the Nationwide’s chief economist, said:
Consumers’ views of the general economic outlook, and prospects for their own financial circumstances over the next 12 months, have plunged towards levels prevailing at the start of the pandemic. It is likely the market will slow in the quarters ahead as the squeeze on incomes is set to intensify; inflation is expected to rise above 7% in the coming months and there is a further likely rise in interest rates.
Housing affordability has become more stretched, as house asking price growth has outstripped earnings growth by a wide margin since the pandemic. The price of a typical house is now equivalent to 6.7 times average earnings, up from 5.8% in 2019.
Property forecast
Experts agree that the pace of spiralling asking prices will start to slow, but there is little prospect of prices falling due to the scarcity of new property listings. How quickly, or how drastically, economic pressures will be brought to bear on consumer spending and borrowing will determine the easing of prices, and perhaps herald a return to a more normal market.
