London asking prices down 2.1%

The national average asking price is up 0.7 per cent on last month and 0.2 per cent annually, sitting at £300,715 in February 2019, according to the latest house price index.

The recent statistics from Rightmove confirms this is consistent with the usual trend for this time of year, where an average 0.6 per cent rise in February has been recorded over the past two years.

Rightmove director and housing market analyst, Miles Shipside, commented on the national rise in asking prices, saying that “longer daylight hours and green shoots appearing in gardens herald the start of the traditionally more buoyant spring market.”

However, many of the southern regions are falling below that figure, with Greater London, the South East and East of England all having average prices cheaper than they did last year.

London asking prices

Greater London saw a monthly increase of 3.4% in February 2019, with an average time to sell of 89 days and an asking price of £614,182. However, this figure was down 2.1% on the previous year.

For a more in-depth analysis, the data revealed the asking prices in the 32 London boroughs. While Wandsworth, Westminster and Havering were the front three runners for the best monthly increase (up 5.3 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively), Merton, Kensington and Chelsea, and Richmond upon Thames were hit the hardest (falling 3.5 per cent, 3.1 per cent and 2.3 per cent on a month-to-month basis).

The best annual change came from Westminster; up 5.2 per cent on the previous year to £1,480,945. Coming in second place was Camden with an increase of 3.9 per cent (to £1,014,811), and Havering up 1.6 per cent (to £414,495). Lambeth, on the hand, had the worst yearly decline of 6.7 per cent to £601,368. Hackney and Hounslow closely followed, with a sharp fall of 5.8 per cent (to £615,524) and 5.4 per cent (to £517,641) compared with the previous year.

South East, South West and East of England results

The South East had an average asking price of £395,240 and 81 days to sell in February 2019; a monthly increase of 1.3 per cent but an annual drop of 1.4 per cent.

The South West recorded a small change in its monthly asking price of 0.1 per cent, with an annual increase of 1.3 per cent. The average asking price in the South West was £297,614 with 76 days to sell.

Average asking prices in the East of England were down by 0.2 per cent year on year but up 0.7 per cent month on month to £347,045. Properties in the East of England were sold in an average of 77 days.

Yorkshire & Humber top the leader board for best annual asking price increase

Despite the average asking price falling 0.9 per cent on the month (to £187,813), Yorkshire & Humber had the most significant annual increase of all nine regions, up 3.6 per cent compared with the previous year. The North East’s asking price also jumped an impressive 3.4 per cent year on year (£151,303), as did the West Midlands with a 3.2 per cent annual rise (£222,647). Additionally, the West Midlands recorded the lowest number of days to sell in the UK at just 65 days.

While the North West experienced a fall of 0.6 per cent on a monthly basis, the average asking price of £192,070 was still a 2.3 rise on the previous year.

Wales had one of the best monthly asking price increases of all regions, up 2.9 per cent to £192,246. This figure was also a 2.1 per cent rise month on month with an average of 78 days to sell.

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