Our monthly property market review is intended to provide background to recent developments in property markets as well as to give an indication of how some key issues could impact in the future.
We are not responsible or authorised to provide advice on investment decisions concerning property, only for the provision of mortgage advice. We hope you will find this review to be of interest.
The UK housing market continues to show modest signs of recovery, according to the latest data from Savills.
Despite some house price growth, a significant upturn is considered unlikely until mortgage affordability improves.
Buyer activity continues to improve, as the number of sales agreed in May was 10% higher than the 2017-2019 average, according to TwentyCI.
The rental market remains relatively consistent. Data from Zoopla shows that, in April, annual UK rental growth was 6.6% – slightly lower than the 6.7% recorded in the previous month. The region with the strongest annual growth was the North East (9.5%), followed by Scotland (9.3%). Rental growth is accelerating in locations close to large cities, such as North Tyneside and Midlothian – more evidence that the pandemic’s ‘race for space’ appears to be in reverse.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, new homes are the unanimous focus of the manifestos when it comes to housing.
If the Conservatives remain in government, Rishi Sunak aims to build 1.6 million new homes over the next five years – slightly more than the Labour Party’s target of 1.5 million and less than the Liberal Democrat’s promise of 380,000 new builds per year. Ed Davey stated that 150,000 of these will be social housing; Keir Starmer would also prioritise building new social rented homes..
The Labour, Liberal Democrat and the Conservative manifestos all pledge to fully abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions. Davey also pledged to create a national register of licensed landlords and make three-year tenancies the default.
If the Labour Party comes to power, they propose to increase the rate of Stamp Duty for non-UK residents. Meanwhile, the Conservatives would abolish Stamp Duty for first-time buyers (FTBs) on homes up to £425,000.
To further support FTBs, Sunak promised a new and improved Help-toBuy scheme. Similarly, the Labour manifesto pledged a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme.
Shutterstock/Stag Photo and Video
The divide in market activity between the south of England and the rest of the UK is becoming more evident.
The disparity can be traced back to the 2008 global crisis; the London property market bounced back afterwards and took southern England with it. By 2014, house prices in the capital were increasing at an annual rate of 20% according to Zoopla – an exponential growth rate unmatched by the rest of the country.
As a result, there is now significant disparity in housing affordability across the UK – data from USwitch shows that, in 2023, the average first-time buyer in Greater London had a deposit of £108,848. This is over three times more than those buying in the North East, who put down an average deposit of £29,740.
Zoopla’s Executive Director of Research, Richard Donnell commented, “With mortgage rates unlikely to get much lower in the short term, income growth is going to have to do the hard work in resetting affordability across southern England.”
HOUSE PRICE INDEX (April 2024) | 147.6 |
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE | £281,000 |
MONTHLY CHANGE | 0.3% |
ANNUAL CHANGE | 1.1% |
*(Jan 2015 = 100)
Source: The Land Registry
Release date: 19/06/24
Next data release: 17/07/24
| REGION | Monthly Change (%) | Annual Change (%) | Average Price (£) |
| ENGLAND | 0.3% | 0.6% | £298,229 |
| NORTHERN IRELAND (QUARTER 4 – 2023) | 0.4% | 4.0% | £178,499 |
| SCOTLAND | 1.3% | 4.5% | £190,345 |
| WALES | -2.1% | 0.4% | £208,184 |
| EAST MIDLANDS | 0.7% | 1.1% | £242,132 |
| EAST OF ENGLAND | -0.7% | 0.4% | £335,448 |
| LONDON | -0.2% | -3.9% | £501,880 |
| NORTH EAST | 0.6% | 1.0% | £158,133 |
| NORTH West | 0.7% | 3.8% | £216,714 |
| SOUTH EAST | 1.4% | -0.4% | £375,067 |
| SOUTH WEST | 1.1% | 1.8% | £317,911 |
| WEST MIDLANDS REGION | 0.4% | 2.0% | £246,292 |
| YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER | -1.4% | 0.2% | £203,110 |
| Property Type | Annual Increase |
| Detached £429,081 | 0.3% |
| semi-Detached £274,974 | 2.2% |
| Terraced £231,942 | 1.6% |
| Flat/Maisonette £229,488 | 0.0% |
Source: The Land Registry Release date: 19/06/24
“A period of relative stability in both house prices and interest rates should give a degree of confidence to both buyers and sellers. While homebuyers and those remortgaging will continue to respond to changes in borrowing costs, set against a backdrop of a limited supply of available properties, the market is unlikely to see huge fluctuations in the near term.”
Amanda Bryden, Head of Mortgages, Halifax
Source: Halifax, June 2024
Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
All details are correct at the time of writing (19 June 2024)