House prices up 4.1% in year to March, ONS figures show
The average home value is down £8,000 from its peak, official figures show – so what does the rest of 2023 hold for house prices?
- A typical home is now worth £285,000, according to the ONS
- Monthly prices fell for the fourth consecutive time
- £8,000 down from July 2022 peak
House prices rose by 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to March 2023, meaning £11,000 in value was added to the typical home.
On a monthly basis, however, prices have fallen for a fourth consecutive time, falling 1.2 percent in March 2023, following a 0.1 percent decline in February 2023.
The annual growth rate also slowed from 5.8 percent in the year to February 2023, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
It’s also a sharp drop in annual growth compared to its recent peak in July 2022, when house prices rose 14.3 percent over the year.
The typical house price has increased by £11,000 since March 2022, according to the ONS
The median house price in the UK was £285,000 in March 2023, which is £11,000 higher than 12 months ago, but £3,000 less than in February.
It’s also £8,000 below its recent peak in November 2022.
Experts said what happens next to real estate prices will be influenced by what happens to inflation, which has a significant impact on how much interest households pay on their mortgages.
Today it was announced that CPI inflation has fallen from 10.1 percent to 8.7 percent.
Iain McKenzie, CEO of the Guild of Property Professionals, said: ‘House prices are still stable despite the financial difficulties facing many households. This will be welcome news for sellers who may have expected worse news in the first half of the year.
“There is a slight decrease compared to last month, but because there are more homes on the market now than last year around this time, we see that sellers are more flexible in asking price.
“We saw today that inflation is finally coming down. This should reassure potential buyers that they can afford their mortgage and that confidence in the market will keep house prices robust.’
Growth: House prices rose 4.1% in the year to March, but fell on a monthly basis
More up-to-date figures released by Rightmove showed the average asking price of newly listed homes rose 1.8 per cent in May to a record £372,894.
In England, the average home is now worth £304,000, an increase of 4.1 per cent per annum, compared to £214,000 in Wales (+4.8%), £185,000 in Scotland (+3%) and £172,000 in Northern Ireland. Ireland (+5 percent). per cent).
The South West saw the highest annual price increases of any region of England in the 12 months to March 2023 with growth of 5.4 per cent, while London saw the lowest at 1.5 per cent.
Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, added: “UK house price growth continued its return to earth in March following exceptional growth during the pandemic.
Transactions are recovering from the lows in January and it should be a solid but unspectacular year as the impact of a recovering economy, a strong job market and record levels of home ownership are held in check by mortgage rates notably higher than 18 months past.
“If stubbornly high inflation keeps interest rates high for longer, that will increase downward pressure on prices, which are expected to fall by a few percent this year.”
The ONS data also showed that private rents paid by tenants in the UK increased by 4.8 per cent in the 12 months to April 2023, up from 4.7 per cent in the 12 months to March.