Home Asking Price Index, February 2020: post-Brexit certainty and shortages boost home prices
UK asking prices rose 0.4% in February 2020, up 0.9% year-on-year, as low stock levels and returning confidence pushed prices and rents higher.
This is the February 2020 edition of the Home Asking Price Index, released on 12 February 2020, under the headline:
Post-Brexit Certainty and Shortages Boost Home Prices
The headlines and summary below are the report's own words, with the key figures as it published them, followed by the report's charts and regional tables as printed.
Headlines
- Home prices jump 0.4%, thanks to greater market certainty and optimism, and are up 0.9% year-on-year.
- South East and East of England lead the charge with a month-on-month price hike of 0.8% in each region, followed by Wales and Yorkshire (both showing increases of 0.7%).
- Supply of new sales instructions remains very low across the UK and this, combined with already low stock levels in many regions, will serve to further inflate prices.
- The largest falls in the number of new instructions year-on-year are in the North West and South West.
- The total sales stock continues to diminish across England and Wales; down by 10.1% year-on-year.
- Scarcity is a problem for home seekers in the rental sector too. The supply of newly available rental property is falling across the UK and is now down 18% year-on-year.
- Competition for the dwindling number of available properties to let has driven up the mix-adjusted UK average rent by 8.2% in just twelve months.
- Typical Time on Market for England and Wales is falling and is now just two days longer than in February 2019; we expect this measure to fall markedly as confidence continues to improve.
- Yorkshire is currently the UK's best-performing region, eclipsing Wales with an annualised rise of 3.1%.
- East of England remains the UK's worst-performing region but this month's leap of 0.8% suggests confidence is returning; the average asking price for the region is now only 1.5% lower than twelve months ago.
Summary
The clouds of political uncertainty that haunted the UK property market are clearing and, consequently, confidence is returning. Prices are up in almost all regions and the market is gaining momentum. Whilst an uptick may be anticipated on a seasonal basis, the year-on-year figures show that market conditions are improving over and above expectations.
Of course, the national average figures obscure profound differences at the regional level. While scarcity is affecting all the regions to a greater or lesser degree, the fundamentals of each region's performance depends very much on where they are positioned in the property cycle.
Key figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Average asking price (England & Wales) | £307,499 |
| Monthly change (England & Wales) | 0.4% |
| Annual change (England & Wales) | 0.9% |
| Total sales stock change (England & Wales, year-on-year) | -10.1% |
| New rental supply change (UK, year-on-year) | -18% |
| Average rent change (UK, year-on-year) | 8.2% |
Figures are for England and Wales unless the report states otherwise, as published in the edition.
Charts from the report
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, February 2020, Indexed to May 2004 (Value =100).
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, February 2020
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, February 2020
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, February 2020. Note: Average = Mean (days), Typical = Median (days)
Regional tables
UK Asking Prices, Feb-20
| Region | Average Asking Price | Monthly % change | Annual % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | £186,146 | 0.6% | 0.8% |
| North East | £160,664 | 0.3% | 2.1% |
| Yorks & The Humber | £202,108 | 0.7% | 3.1% |
| England & Wales | £307,499 | 0.4% | 0.9% |
| North West | £209,444 | 0.3% | 3.0% |
| West Midlands | £255,567 | 0.3% | 2.1% |
| East Midlands | £238,358 | -0.3% | 2.3% |
| East | £345,272 | 0.8% | -1.5% |
| Wales | £211,809 | 0.7% | 2.9% |
| Greater London | £516,418 | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| South East | £391,876 | 0.8% | 0.2% |
| South West | £320,283 | 0.5% | 0.6% |
UK Time on Market, Feb-20
| Region | Average Time on Market | Typical Time on Market | Annual % supply change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 197 | 121 | -9% |
| North East | 243 | 138 | 0% |
| Yorks & The Humber | 183 | 113 | 1% |
| England & Wales | 194 | 116 | -5% |
| North West | 197 | 121 | -9% |
| West Midlands | 166 | 103 | 0% |
| East Midlands | 164 | 103 | -5% |
| East | 166 | 106 | -6% |
| Wales | 238 | 139 | -4% |
| Greater London | 206 | 115 | -7% |
| South East | 172 | 107 | -5% |
| South West | 172 | 107 | -5% |
From the director's commentary
"After several years in the doldrums, the London market is on the move again. Soaring rents, rising prices in PCL and a chronic shortage of stock all point to significant price growth ahead."
Doug Shephard, Director at Home.co.uk
Read the full February 2020 edition (PDF, 6 pages)
About the Home Asking Price Index
The Home Asking Price Index measures the change in the prices sellers ask for residential property across England, Wales and Scotland. Today it is computed every month from around half a million advertised homes and is mix-adjusted, so a change in what happens to be on the market does not move the figure; earlier editions state the sample they were built from. Because an asking price is set months before a sale completes, the index runs around five months ahead of completed-sale measures such as the UK House Price Index.
Every edition in the archive, back to October 2006, is listed on the index page. How we measure the UK property market explains the listing data behind it, and today's figures by area are on house prices and rental prices.
Text and figures above are quoted from the February 2020 edition as published, with punctuation normalised for the web, and are not revised. Later editions may restate them.
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