TOP NEWS: Rightmove notes early signs of stability in UK house prices

(Alliance News) - After two months of falls, the average UK asking price rose by 0.9% in January, according to the latest data from Rightmove.

The average price of a property coming to the market for sale rose to GBP362,438 in January, up 0.9% from GBP359,137 in December. Rightmove said this was the biggest increase at this time of year since 2020.

Annually, the average asking price rose by 6.3% in January. In December, the annual rise was 5.6%.

Rightmove said that average asking prices are still GBP8,720 lower than their peak in October, however.

"After the market's uncertain final few months of 2022, this familiar seasonality is a tentative sign of stability...It's still early days, but this is a more encouraging start to the year than many anticipated," Rightmove said.

The online real estate agency said buyer demand rose by 4% in January when compared to the same period in the last pre-pandemic market of 2019, though it noted this was down by 36% compared to last year's busiest ever start to a year.

In addition, Rightmove said the number of prospective buyers sending an enquiry to an estate agent about a property for sale jumped by 55% in the last two weeks, compared with the previous two weeks.

Rightmove's Director of Property Science Tim Bannister said: "The numbers certainly suggest that activity has bounced back after Christmas and agents will now be busy trying to match the likely revised expectations of buyers and sellers as we move towards the important spring season.

"We expect that the full effect of affordability constraints and last year's mortgage rate rises will hold back some segments of the market in the first half of the year, but our leading market indicators may start to identify some green shoots of growth that will go on to strengthen in the second half of 2023."

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

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