Home Asking Price Index, January 2016: London prices leap into 2016
England and Wales asking prices rose 0.3% in January 2016, Greater London jumped 0.9%, and total unsold stock fell to a new low.
This is the January 2016 edition of the Home Asking Price Index, released on 12 January 2016, under the headline:
London Prices Leap into 2016
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
- Greater London prices jump 0.9% since December.
- The average annual home price appreciation for England and Wales rises further to 8.2%, driven by lack of supply and low mortgage rates.
- The total stock of property on the market drops to a new record low.
- The mix-adjusted average asking price for England and Wales rises 0.3% since last month.
- Typical time on market is 117 days across England and Wales: nine days less than in January 2015.
- Supply of property entering the market indicates a slight annualised increase of 4%: the first such rise observed for many months.
- Prices rise in all regions except for the East, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire during the last month.
Summary
2016 kicks off with significant optimism, especially in the capital region. Sellers know full well that there is a shortage of supply and therefore see no need for cautious pricing. Consequently, prices jumped nearly a percentage point over the last month in Greater London, which corresponds with an additional £15K on the average home value.
Despite a small uptick in supply, the total number of properties on the market has fallen to a new low. Just over 386,000 properties are currently for sale: 47% less than in 2008. This trend looks set to dominate the UK property market in 2016.
So buoyant is the market that prices rose 0.3% across England and Wales over the last month, which is the highest such rise observed for January since the onset of the financial crisis and is at odds with the 'normal' seasonal trend.
Editor's note: the £15K in the summary is the report's own figure. Applied to the Greater London average asking price in this edition's regional table, £544,046, a 0.9% rise comes to about £4,900.
Key figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Mix-adjusted average asking price (England & Wales) | £287,891 |
| Monthly change (England & Wales) | 0.3% |
| Annual change (England & Wales) | 8.2% |
| Typical time on market (England & Wales) | 117 days |
| Total unsold stock (UK) | over 386,000 |
| Annualised increase in supply | 4% |
Figures are for England and Wales unless the report states otherwise, as published in the edition.
Charts from the report
Source: Home.co.uk, January 2016
Source: Home.co.uk, January 2016
Source: Home.co.uk, January 2016
Source: Home.co.uk, January 2016
Source: Home.co.uk, January 2016. Note: Average = Mean (days), Typical = Median (days)
Regional tables
UK Asking Prices, Jan-16
| Region | Average Asking Price | Monthly % change | Annual % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | £169,092 | -0.8% | 4.5% |
| North East | £153,260 | 0.1% | -0.2% |
| Yorks & The Humber | £175,350 | -0.1% | 2.4% |
| England & Wales | £287,891 | 0.3% | 8.2% |
| North West | £180,449 | 0.5% | 2.3% |
| West Midlands | £213,616 | 0.3% | 5.4% |
| East Midlands | £201,513 | 0.3% | 4.3% |
| East | £310,506 | -0.2% | 10.9% |
| Wales | £182,633 | -0.7% | 1.7% |
| Greater London | £544,046 | 0.9% | 13.7% |
| South East | £379,758 | 0.1% | 10.8% |
| South West | £294,263 | 0.3% | 5.2% |
UK Time on Market, Jan-16
| Region | Average Time on Market | Typical Time on Market | Annual % supply change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 271 | 149 | -21% |
| North East | 284 | 159 | 3% |
| Yorks & The Humber | 232 | 138 | 7% |
| England & Wales | 199 | 117 | 4% |
| North West | 234 | 142 | 2% |
| West Midlands | 196 | 118 | 3% |
| East Midlands | 183 | 113 | 8% |
| East | 139 | 87 | 7% |
| Wales | 264 | 162 | 7% |
| Greater London | 131 | 85 | 4% |
| South East | 122 | 80 | 9% |
| South West | 178 | 114 | 6% |
From the director's commentary
"The ultra-low interest rate environment is allowing the gap between earnings and house prices to widen to historically dangerous levels (mainly in the South and East). This is clearly one of several unsustainable trends in the current booming market."
Doug Shephard, Director at Home.co.uk
Read the full January 2016 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 January 2016 edition as published, with punctuation normalised for the web, and are not revised. Later editions may restate them.
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