Home Asking Price Index, January 2009: fewer price cuts over festive season
Asking prices in England and Wales fell 0.3% during December, price cuts affected 73,000 homes compared with 175,000 in November, and prices were down 6.0% year-on-year.
This is the January 2009 edition of the Home Asking Price Index, released on 13 January 2009, under the headline:
Fewer Price Cuts Over Festive Season
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
- Asking Prices for homes on the market in England and Wales fell by just 0.3% in the last month.
- Monthly price falls observed in 8 of 9 English regions, Wales and Scotland.
- Market house prices in Greater London bucked the UK trend and rose, by 0.4%, over the last month.
- Asking Prices across England and Wales have fallen 6.0% since January 08.
- The average Asking Price reduction in December was £20,250.
- Market house prices in the East Midlands are now 10.6% lower than in May 2004.
Summary
Asking prices for UK residential property are in the midst of a painful corrective phase. Mortgage credit remains unobtainable to many potential buyers. Widespread job losses across the UK economy looks set to further destabilise the balance of homebuyers and sellers in 2009.
Time-on-market indicators are rising and for some worst affected locations the average marketing period for homes for sale is approaching a year. Clearly, vendors in such areas of the country are being overly optimistic and need to adjust their asking prices accordingly. Keenly priced homes are still selling within a reasonable timeframe.
Asking prices of 73,000 homes on the market were cut in December, which is much less than the 175,000 reductions found in November (and October 200,000). However, the festive season is traditionally a very quiet month for property sales. The value of the average price cut increased slightly from November (£20,174) to December (£20,250).
Key figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Mix-adjusted average asking price (England & Wales) | £243,791 |
| Monthly change in asking prices | -0.3% |
| Annual (year-on-year) change | -6.0% |
| Average asking price reduction (December) | £20,250 |
| Homes with price cuts in December | 73,000 |
| HAPI index (England & Wales) | 99.9 |
Figures are for England and Wales unless the report states otherwise, as published in the edition.
Charts from the report
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices. [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Indices based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Source: HM Land Registry
Regional tables
Regional Housing Markets
| Current average price | YoY change | |
|---|---|---|
| Wales | £187,589 | -3.9% |
| Greater London | £336,602 | -4.2% |
| Scotland | £174,162 | -4.4% |
| Yorkshire and Humber | £174,595 | -5.3% |
| North East | £162,433 | -5.3% |
| North West | £181,344 | -5.8% |
| South West | £256,351 | -6.0% |
| East Anglia | £248,932 | -6.7% |
| West Midlands | £195,179 | -7.1% |
| South East | £273,422 | -7.3% |
| East Midlands | £176,050 | -8.0% |
Regional Asking Prices for January 2009, showing % change since January 2008.
Read the full January 2009 edition (PDF, 9 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 January 2009 edition as published, with punctuation normalised for the web, and are not revised. Later editions may restate them.
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