The latest research into the housing market in the UK has revealed that average prices had fallen by 1.8% at the end of last year, in comparison to the final month of 2022.
This drop left the average price of a home around the country at 4.5% below the record high figure towards the end of summer 2022. The stats are from the new house price index released by Nationwide, and also show an overall flat picture for UK property prices during December, when compared with the month before.
On a regional basis, there were drops in average prices across almost every part of the country over the course of last year. The only exceptions to this were Northern Ireland and Scotland. Price growth was strongest in the former, where the average price rose by 4.5%. Scotland saw a weaker annual growth of 0.5%.
The region in England that experienced the sharpest drop in prices was East Anglia. Here, there was a 5.2% annual decline in the average house price. Looking at the whole of England, the annual fall was 2.9% compared with 2022.
Mark Harris from the SPF Private Clients brokerage told Financial Reporter that:
“It is remarkable that house prices have proven to be so resilient over the past 12 months given soaring mortgage costs and consecutive interest rate hikes in the first half of the year.”
Advisors with CeMAP training will be aware of signs of improvement that could filter through to the housing market this year, including the rapid fall in inflation.
