Home Asking Price Index, July 2022: home price growth slows, stock level trends up and rents skyrocket
England and Wales asking prices rose just 0.2% in May, with annual growth easing to 6.1% while UK rents jumped 19.1% year on year.
This is the July 2022 edition of the Home Asking Price Index, released on 13 July 2022, under the headline:
Home Price Growth Slows, Stock Level Trends Up and Rents Skyrocket
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 across England and Wales edged up a mere 0.2% overall in May, bringing the year-on-year rise to 6.1%, a more muted increase than seen in previous months, despite huge monthly rises in Wales (1.0%) and Yorkshire (1.3%).
- Monetary inflation increased further to 13.4% (RPI ex. housing).
- The total stock of property for sale in England and Wales moved up again by a larger margin than last month. The stock total has been in a rising trend since January 2022.
- Typical Time on Market (median) for unsold property is 59 days, which is 14 days less than in July 2021, a clear indication that properties continue to move through the market with extraordinary alacrity.
- Supply remains relatively tight as surprisingly few vendors are tempted by record prices. Only one per cent more properties were placed on the market last month compared to June 2021. Three regions, London, the North West and Yorkshire, indicate a year-on-year reduction in supply.
- The Welsh property market now leads in annualised regional price growth (+9.9%), ahead of the previous leader, the South West (+9.2%).
- Rents in Greater London continue their breathtaking ascent. Demand is persistently overwhelming a falling supply of available properties and has pushed annualised rental growth to an alarming 25.4%.
- Asking rent growth across the UK currently stands at 19.1% year-on-year as rents rise in every English region, Scotland and Wales.
- Central London rents continue to set new records as supply plummets. Hackney, Merton and Lambeth boroughs show the greatest rises in asking rents over the last twelve months, with all three indicating an increase of 42%.
Summary
The UK property market shows no sign of a slowdown. Stock for sale is steadily trending up, albeit from a record low set in January this year, and monthly supply of new instructions remains relatively tight. Meanwhile, demand remains very strong as evidenced by a near all-time low in the Typical Time on Market of unsold property.
Despite a small uptick, acute scarcity persists across all regions when compared to stock totals for sale over the last decade. Real mortgage interest rates look to remain negative for the foreseeable future, even when further BoE hikes are factored in. Rents are soaring year-on-year across all regions and look set to continue to do so. The mix-adjusted average rise for the UK is 19.1%. Supply is worsening in this sector, with newly available rental properties down by 23% compared to June 2021, due mainly to the drop in London. Given the above, we expect demand for UK property to remain high and perhaps rise into 2023 as investors seek the relatively safe returns afforded by bricks and mortar, facilitated by artificially low interest rates.
Key figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Monthly asking price change | 0.2% |
| Annual asking price change | 6.1% |
| Monetary inflation (RPI ex. housing) | 13.4% |
| Typical Time on Market | 59 days |
| New instructions change (UK) | 1% |
| Asking rent growth (UK) | 19.1% |
| Stock level change (UK) | 2.3% |
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, July 2022, Indexed to May 2004 (Value=100).
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, July 2022
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, July 2022
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, July 2022
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, July 2022. Average = Mean (days), Typical = Median (days).
Regional tables
UK Asking Prices, Jul-22
| Region | Average Asking Price | Monthly % change | Annual % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | £216,812 | 0.6% | 2.3% |
| North East | £186,681 | 0.5% | 4.6% |
| Yorks & The Humber | £245,336 | 1.3% | 6.9% |
| England & Wales | £361,421 | 0.2% | 6.1% |
| North West | £256,674 | 0.7% | 9.1% |
| West Midlands | £303,824 | -0.1% | 7.4% |
| East Midlands | £289,864 | 0.3% | 7.4% |
| East | £414,280 | 0.2% | 5.9% |
| Wales | £265,263 | 1.0% | 9.9% |
| Greater London | £562,920 | -0.2% | 3.1% |
| South East | £457,222 | -0.2% | 4.6% |
| South West | £393,527 | 0.3% | 9.2% |
UK Time on Market, Jul-22
| Region | Average Time on Market | Typical Time on Market | Annual % supply change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 199 | 45 | 6% |
| North East | 143 | 53 | -2% |
| Yorks & The Humber | 118 | 46 | -2% |
| England & Wales | 147 | 59 | |
| North West | 142 | 61 | -2% |
| West Midlands | 131 | 53 | 3% |
| East Midlands | 102 | 46 | 4% |
| East | 124 | 52 | 1% |
| Wales | 138 | 53 | 6% |
| Greater London | 187 | 81 | -4% |
| South East | 135 | 54 | 4% |
| South West | 125 | 48 | 3% |
The report also prints '2 year % supply change' in 1 of its 12 region boxes (England & Wales 1%), so it is not a column of this table.
From the director's commentary
"Given the hypothetical illustration above, it's very hard to see demand from investors being reduced anytime soon. The magic cash machine that is UK property enabled by cheap borrowing is still whirring away."
Doug Shephard, Director at Home.co.uk
Read the full July 2022 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 July 2022 edition as published, with punctuation normalised for the web, and are not revised. Later editions may restate them.
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