Latest Rightmove House Price Index released

2021 buyer frenzy reveals 225,000 shortfall in number of homes for sale AND average rents hit a record £1,000 & city centres start to recover

UK property portal Rightmove released its latest House Price Index this week for the last quarter giving a real insight into the national picture of house prices and general housing market activity.  For lettings, their quarterly Rental Trends Tracker released last week shows consumers what they’ve seen in the rental market over the last quarter.

Here are some key facts:

SALES

-          Busiest ever first half of a year pushes average price of property coming to market to a new record high for the fourth consecutive month, and £21,389 higher (+6.7%) in just six months.

-          With the first half of 2021 seeing 140,000 more sales being agreed and 85,000 fewer new listings than the long-term average, this surge in activity has revealed a shortfall of 225,000 homes for sale which, if available, would have corrected this stark imbalance between supply and demand, and would have stabilised price growth.

-          Homes with four beds and more facing biggest imbalance with 39% surge in sales and 15% fall in numbers coming to market versus 2019, resulting in an average price hike of 6.7% in the last six months.

-          Mass-market three bed sector sees 28% jump in sales whilst suffering 10% drop in new supply versus 2019, with prices jumping up by 6.9% so far in 2021.

-          First-time buyers faring best as sector of two beds and few has unchanged new seller numbers with sales up by a slightly smaller 26%, resulting in a smaller average price rise of 3.4% for the half year.

-          With the ongoing need for housing, high activity levels despite the June stamp duty deadline now passing, and with residential property prices appreciating better than many other asset classes, we expect positive sentiment to continue.
 

LETTINGS

-          National asking rents outside London have reached another record, and are now over £1,000 per calendar month for the first time.

-          Asking rents are 2.6% higher now than in Q1 and 6.2% higher than this time last year, the biggest quarterly and annual jumps ever recorded by Rightmove.

-          London is the only region with rents lower than this time last year, though rents in the capital have increased this quarter for the first time since before the pandemic.

-          Asking rents in city centres around Britain are starting to recover with higher rents than in June 2020.

-          Rental properties are finding a tenant quicker than ever before and there has been an annual drop of 36% in the number of available rental properties.
 

So does this national insight ‘mirror’ what’s happening in our part of Yorkshire?  Absolutely!  A shortfall of property coming to market has led to huge demand on individual properties with most properties selling from our own database of registered buyers before even hitting Rightmove, many receiving multiple offers and as such, this has allowed vendors the opportunity to maximise the value of their home.  We’re also witnessing the same in a fast-paced rental market, with staggeringly high demand from prospective tenants wanting to view, properties letting within days and some achieving more than the advertised per calendar month rental.  We’re feeling very positive that this activity will continue throughout 2021 throughout our area of operation.

For the latest information on your local market or if you’d like to know what your property is currently worth and how we could help you move this year, give our branches a call for a market appraisal.