Home Asking Price Index, March 2022: prices leap as market accelerates to warp speed
Asking prices in England and Wales rose 1.1% in February, with the Typical Time on Market falling to 70 days, the lowest since 2008.
This is the March 2022 edition of the Home Asking Price Index, released on 16 March 2022, under the headline:
Prices Leap as Market Accelerates to Warp Speed
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 leapt 1.1% in February, while prices in the South West and West Midlands jumped by a phenomenal 1.8% and 1.9% respectively.
- The market is exceptionally fast for this time of year. The Typical Time on Market for unsold property in England and Wales has dropped to 70 days (median), 43 days less than in March 2021 and the lowest such figure since 2008.
- The total stock of property for sale in England and Wales nudged up again for the second consecutive month, adding just 1,712 properties to the unsold stock total since last month.
- Monetary inflation remains high and rising, making real home price growth increasingly negative overall. We estimate current real growth to be -2.6%. Costly sanctions look set to exacerbate this trend.
- More vendors entered the market last month as evidenced by a 15% rise in the supply of new instructions across the UK compared to February 2021. The biggest rise by far was the North East with a 29% increase in new listings year-on-year.
- The East of England and the South West property markets now head up the 12-month regional price growth table, each with an inflation-beating annualised gain of 10.8%.
- Rents in Greater London continue to soar and are now up a massive annualised 27%. Scarcity looks set to continue this trend as the supply of new rental properties nosedived by 52% last month compared to February 2021.
- Central London rents appear to be going berserk. The greatest rises in asking rents over the last twelve months are in the City (+115%), Hammersmith and Fulham (+53%) and Camden (+47%), as massive demand completely overwhelms supply.
- A lack of rental properties remains a problem across the UK and this is creating significant upward price pressure. Rents have risen by an annualised 10.1% across the UK since March last year, albeit most of this overall increase is driven by London.
Summary
Predictions of a slowdown in the UK property market in 2022 are already ringing hollow. The market has accelerated to a blistering pace and prices are soaring. The total stock of property for sale is up slightly but remains very low at about half that seen in 2019. So far, the 2022 UK property market is shaping up like a replay of 2021.
Despite mortgage interest rates nudging up, demand continues to overwhelm supply and thereby drive asking prices through the roof. While spring normally triggers modest price rises, February's extraordinary increase of 1.1% overall is testament to this state of affairs and some regions show hikes approaching double this figure. In fact, prices have risen in every English region, Scotland and Wales during the last month. The smallest was in Greater London (0.5%, which is still on the large side for a month-on-month rise), and this sales market is still in recovery mode following the damage inflicted by the lockdowns.
Key figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Monthly change in asking prices | +1.1% |
| Annual change in asking prices | +7.4% |
| Typical Time on Market | 70 days |
| Real price growth | -2.6% |
| Rise in new instructions (UK) | 15% |
| Average asking rent annual change (UK) | 10.1% |
| Increase in unsold stock (month) | 1,712 properties |
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, March 2022, Indexed to May 2004 (Value=100).
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, March 2022
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, March 2022
Source: ONS and Home.co.uk (RPI ex. housing for February and March 2022 are our estimates).
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, March 2022
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, March 2022
Source: Home.co.uk Asking Price Index, March 2022. Average = Mean (days), Typical = Median (days).
Regional tables
UK Asking Prices, Mar-22
| Region | Average Asking Price | Monthly % change | Annual % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | £207,983 | 0.9% | 2.2% |
| North East | £179,920 | 1.2% | 4.5% |
| Yorks & The Humber | £232,324 | 1.3% | 4.0% |
| England & Wales | £349,790 | 1.1% | 7.4% |
| North West | £244,751 | 1.0% | 6.9% |
| West Midlands | £293,491 | 1.9% | 8.8% |
| East Midlands | £278,108 | 0.6% | 10.3% |
| East | £403,958 | 1.1% | 10.8% |
| Wales | £251,800 | 0.9% | 8.6% |
| Greater London | £554,579 | 0.5% | 3.7% |
| South East | £446,537 | 1.4% | 7.7% |
| South West | £373,423 | 1.8% | 10.8% |
UK Time on Market, Mar-22
| Region | Average Time on Market | Typical Time on Market | Annual % supply change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 252 | 92 | 14% |
| North East | 165 | 50 | 29% |
| Yorks & The Humber | 136 | 50 | 16% |
| England & Wales | 170 | 70 | |
| North West | 158 | 68 | 12% |
| West Midlands | 151 | 55 | 14% |
| East Midlands | 118 | 43 | 17% |
| East | 142 | 53 | 21% |
| Wales | 173 | 76 | 4% |
| Greater London | 204 | 105 | 5% |
| South East | 158 | 57 | 16% |
| South West | 149 | 49 | 16% |
The report also prints '2 year % supply change' in 1 of its 12 region boxes (England & Wales 15%), so it is not a column of this table.
From the director's commentary
"Inflation cannot be ignored. Its devastating effects have led to what is now commonly referred to as 'the cost of living crisis', whereby the pound in your pocket is unable to buy the same amount of life's essentials as it did before."
Doug Shephard, Director at Home.co.uk
Read the full March 2022 edition (PDF, 10 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 March 2022 edition as published, with punctuation normalised for the web, and are not revised. Later editions may restate them.
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