How many house hunters logged onto @Rightmove on Christmas Day

New data from Rightmove reveals a 20% increase in people looking for their dream home eetween Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day compared with 2012.

On Christmas Day there were nearly 14 million page views and over 10,000 people took time out from the festivities to send emails to agents.

On Boxing Day it got even busier, with page views jumping to over 25 million, up 21% on 2012. Views peaked on New Year’s Day, at over 38 million page views.

Those who unwrapped new smartphones or tablets at Christmas were eager to house hunt too – there were over 26,000 downloads of the Rightmove app across the various platforms between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

Matthew James, Head of Communications at Rightmove, comments: 
“Whether it was people waiting for Santa to come, having a look post-Christmas dinner, or trying out the app on their new device, people clearly took advantage of some free time over the holiday season to look for a new home.  Many will have been those thinking about making changes in the New Year or potential sellers may have been having a look at asking prices or sold prices of other similar properties to their own.  But it wasn’t just people browsing the site as thousands of house-hunters registered their interest in properties they wanted to view, showing that there are a large number of active buyers out there.

“The market really picked up in the second half of 2013, and this increased interest from Rightmove users looking for a home compared to last year, added to the number of first-time buyers being at a three year high, increased lending and the government’s phase two of Help to Buy, all made for a very busy start for agents in 2014.”

Property searching on a mobile device has been growing steadily over the past few years and now accounts for over one third (37%) of all page views to Rightmove. Rightmove’s mobile site has recently been updated to include bigger images for people to browse, as pictures are one of the most important aspects of a listing that people want to look at before viewing a property.  New apps have also been launched for iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle and Windows Phonein recent months, including a new Windows tablet app just before Christmas.

One third of tenants in the UK are planning to buy in 2014

ONE third (32%) of private tenants in the UK are planning to buy their first home in 2014, Rightmove reported this morning.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of those say they are looking to buy as a direct result of phase two of Help to Buy or have brought forward their plans to buy because of it.

One in five people (18%) currently living with their parents but planning to make the move to home ownership have also been influenced by the scheme.

But, said Rightmove, the shortages underpinning the housing market will not fundamentally change because of “a few months of Help to Buy”. The scheme is due to have a shelf life of three years, or 36 months.

The Rightmove report is published as new data from the ONS shows that the number of households in rented accommodation is now 34% of the total, up from 29%.

According to Rightmove, tenants in London and the south-east are keenest to buy, while those in the north-east and Scotland are the least likely, according to today’s Rightmove Consumer Confidence Survey, which questioned nearly 17,500 people.

Of those renting, over half (58%) are ‘trapped renters’ who would like to buy but cannot afford to. Only a small number (13%) are renting for lifestyle reasons, saying that it suits them, while 28% would like to buy eventually.

The increased number of tenants hoping to get their first step on the housing ladder could see rental prices staying flat next year, Rightmove predicts.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “More tenants look set to buy in 2014, but saving a deposit still requires time and commitment, meaning that overall tenant demand is unlikely to change much.

“It could ease a little in 2015, but the reality is that many first-time buyers will still be priced out of buying, especially with increased competition from buy-to-let investors attracted by solid rental returns and the possibility of increasing capital values.

“With there being an increase in supply of property to rent, it’s important that landlords improve the standard of their stock to attract the best tenants as there is more choice of property to rent in some parts of the country.

“In the past three years rental prices have increased by a total of 7.6%, and the fact it has slowed to 1.4% within the past year is an indication that landlords will have to try harder to get the best returns.

“More landlords and the increase in supply due to buy-to-let mortgage availability is likely to keep rental price growth in check in 2014.

“However, it could be that we see buoyant rental and sales markets at the same time as a result of the housing shortage of the last ten years, which won’t be solved by a few months of Help to Buy.”

The latest ONS data shows a sharp increase in the number of households in the private rented sector.

Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom.co.uk, said: “The number of households renting has risen from 29% to 34%. While other household spend has stayed the same or increased, for most people rent is their biggest monthly outgoing. The ONS data tallies with our findings that not only are more people renting, but more are returning to shared accommodation, including couples and the over 40s. Flat and house sharing is no longer the preserve of young professionals and students.

“Soaring living costs means it’s a struggle for many renting households just to keep their heads above water, let along have enough spare cash to put aside towards deposits. It’s clear that the aspiration to own our own homes one day is fast becoming out of reach for British households.”

Rightmove Infographic for November

Rightmove’s November House Price Index reported that the average asking price of property coming to market fell by 2.4% (-£6,181) in November, in line with the usual pre-Christmas slowdown.

Their infographic provides a breakdown of how prices are performing across each region and property type.

Rightmove raise house price forecast to 6%

RIGHTMOVE is raising its 2013 forecast again, from 4% to 6%, as high search activity and a fall in stock of property on agents’ books look set to create an autumn price surge.

August saw Rightmove’s traffic up more than 20% year-on-year and average property stock per estate agency branch has fallen from 72 properties to 70 as property coming off the market exceeds the amount coming on.

The average price of new to the market property is down by 1.5% (-£3,704) this month, though remains up by 7.2% (+£16,506) so far in 2013.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: “We forecast the national average increase in new seller pricing for the whole of 2013 to be in the region of 6%, partly driven by the strength of southern markets but increasingly contributed to by the more buoyant areas of the north. 

"Potential sellers should note that there is the possibility of this autumn’s market being a better time to sell than 2014 if you are trading up. The price gap to trade up might be smaller now and there may be more competition from other sellers next year if January’s second phase of Help to Buy unlocks the housing market”.

Rightmove - 8 key tips for buy to let investors

Research the market 

Before you start looking at properties, make sure you know what you're getting into. Look at all theoperty is a long term investment, so you need to consider whether you can afford to have money tied up for this long. If you might need quick access to your money, then this isn't the right investment for you. You also need to think about what happens if house prices fall further and whether you'll still be able to afford the property. Speak to other investors and see what their experiences are.

Choose the right area
When you're researching areas, it's essential that you think about who your potential tenants are and where they want to live. This isn't going to be your family home, so you need to forget about your own preferences. Look at the local transport links, schools and amenities and how these factor into the lives of your tenants.

Check the finances
Before you commit to an investment, you need to ensure that it's affordable. Look at the price of local properties and the possible rental income to see if the figures add up. A good guide for buy to let investors is for the rent to cover 125% of the mortgage, as this provides a buffer if the property is left empty at some stage. Mortgage deals for new property investors will require larger deposits (usually around 25% to get the best deals) and arrangement fees can cost more.

Research mortgage deals
Make sure you look at all the mortgage products available - don't just opt for the first one you find. There are organisations online that list details of the best buy to let deals. It's also worth considering using a specialist broker who can look across the whole market and might have access to exclusive products.

Your tenants
You always need to keep your potential tenants at the forefront of your mind to ensure that it's a property they want to live in. Decide on who you're aiming for. For example families will be looking for something very different from students or single people. Deciding on your target market will help you to focus on exactly what type of property you're looking for. The best types of tenants are those who want to stay for a considerable period of time and make the property their home. However, you also need to think about what will happen if you have unreliable tenants and how the tenants eviction process works.

Negotiate on price
As a buy to let investor you're in an excellent position to negotiate on the price of the property. With no onward chain there's less potential for the sale to fall through and you might be able to move faster. When you find the right property, make a low offer to start with and don't be tempted to pay too much.

Consider the negatives
When you're entering the property investment market, don't just think about the positives. Consider the negative aspects, including whether your investment will still work if prices fall – or demand drops. You need to think about what will happen if the property is empty for long periods, you need to start a tenants eviction process or the property needs essential repairs.

How involved will you be?
Will you want an agent to manage the property or will you deal with everything yourself? An agent will charge a management fee, but they'll take care of advertising, viewing and organising repairs. They will also be dealing with tenants for you - which can be a big plus. If you decide to go with an agent, research all the options and the different fees.

Rightmove infographic gives quick insight into August house prices

Rightmove Ifographic provides a breakdown of how prices are performing across each region and property type.

London's million pound boroughs see £90K price drop

The average asking price of property coming to market in London fell by 2.8% (-£14,312) this month. The peak holiday month of August is traditionally volatile, with price falls recorded every year since Rightmove first published its index in 2002.

 Fewer sellers have come to market, down 9% on July, with discretionary sellers more focused on holidays and content to wait for the busier autumn selling season.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments:
“A holiday season price dip is the norm in August, though sellers who do come to market during August tend to have a more pressing reason to sell and consequently price more aggressively. Even with this month’s 2.8% fall, the asking prices of property coming to market are still up by an average of £36,000 so far in 2013”.

During the holiday season lull, the top-priced boroughs tend to record the largest falls, as higher-priced property owners show a greater propensity to hold off placing their property on the market.

This is evidenced by new sellers in the ‘million-pound-plus club’ boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Camden dropping their asking prices by an average of 5.6% compared to July.

Shipside observes:
“The average price drop of nearly £90,000 in the million-pound-plus boroughs is a sign of down-time rather than a downturn. The top-end market remains buoyant, but they’re currently busy bobbing about on their yachts”.

The more affordable boroughs of Tower Hamlets (+2.9%), Ealing(+2%), Waltham Forest (+1.4%), Harrow (+0.9%) and Sutton (+0.4%), priced at an average of half a million and below, maintain their momentum and are the top London performers this month.

Shipside adds:
“While London’s best performers this month recorded comparatively modest increases compared to the heady ones seen earlier in the year, they still bucked the trend of holiday season price falls. It shows that while there is a lot of chatter about international buyers in central London, the bulk of the London market is driven by ordinary boroughs and the housing needs of ordinary people”.

Rightmove survey shows 60% of renters can't afford to buy a house

PROPERTY website Rightmove say almost two-thirds of renters feel trapped because they want to buy a home but cannot afford to do so.

The research underlines the frustrations faced by millions locked out of home ownership, dubbed generation rent, as the spiralling cost of letting and a revived property market curb these aspirations.

In the Rightmove survey of 3,000 tenants, 60% say they are unable to get a toehold on the ladder – an 8% rise since 2011 when the annual survey began.

Of these trapped renters, a third had owned a property but decided to sell and return to the rental sector, and now find themselves priced out of the market.

The survey also found that one in six of those expecting to buy for the first time this year will be age 40 or over.

Despite difficulties, Britons' desire to own a home has not diminished, with 96% of renters surveyed aspiring to this, and seven in 10 saying they would not give up on that dream.

Record high rents have made it hard for would-be buyers to build up a big enough deposit to afford a home, despite signs that banks and building societies are becoming more willing to provide higher  loan to value mortgages.

Buying will become increasingly harder if prices continue to rise in 2013, with prices in July already 3.9% higher than in 2012, according to Nationwide. 

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: "Even though some agents are reporting an increase in those buying and escaping the rental trap, the growing number of new households and former homeowners returned to the rental sector keeps producing new tenants.

"In spite of buying looking increasingly attractive as the costs of renting continue to rise, saving a deposit continues to get harder. For many of those trapped in rented accommodation and dreaming of escape, it's a nightmare scenario."

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UK house price infographic from Rightmove

Add caption

Region by region breakdown of change in UK asking prices

Rightmove said: "New sellers are now asking 4.8% (+£11,561) more than a year ago, a big jump from the 2.7% annual rate recorded in June. With all regions showing a year-on-year increase for the first time since September 2010, several factors suggest this is a broader-based recovery, fuelled by the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’."
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: 
“The market is currently benefitting from the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ where incremental improvements across a range of key market drivers help to slowly but surely build momentum. Rightmove’s lead indicators show increasing enquiries to agents and developers, new sellers and marketing prices. An important signal for a broader-based and sustainable recovery is that all regions of the country now have higher prices than a year ago firmly on the record”.

For House Price UK homepage click here

Prices in the capital up 12% year-on-year, but signs of a two-speed market develop

Pause in new seller average asking prices as they rise by just £136, though still hovering at record levels

Annual increase jumps to 12% (+£55,075) this month, up from 7.9% (+£37,803) in June though strength of Inner London market confirmed by year-on-year increase of 14.9% compared to Outer London’s ‘mere’ 6.8%

Inner London price ‘over-spill’ appears to be ‘leap-frogging’ Outer London and benefitting South East

The asking prices of properties coming to market in London this month increased by an average of just £136 to £515,379. Even with such a small rise, this is the third month in a row that the capital has set a new record, and the fifth record in seven months so far this year.

Miles Shipside, director and housing market analyst at Rightmove comments:
“It looks like London’s sellers are pausing for breath by holding prices at a virtual standstill after an 11% rise so far in 2013, including five monthly asking price records. It remains to be seen whether this is the start of the usual summer slowdown or whether the strength of buyer demand and the shortage of property supply will see prices rise again over the summer selling season.”

The annual increase jumps to 12% (+£55,075) this month, up from 7.9% (+£37,803) in June. This rise is due to the greater resilience in prices this July compared to last, when a large fall of 4.1% coincided with the Queen’s Jubilee depressing both prices and activity.

The heady 12% hike masks a two-speed market in the capital, with the strength of Inner London* highlighted by a year-on-year increase of 14.9% compared to an Outer London** rise of just 6.8%. While there has been much comment on the buoyancy and appeal of ‘super-prime’ central London (e.g. Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Chelsea) these statistics show that buyer demand and seller pricing power is generally gaining greater traction in the Inner London boroughs compared to those further out.

Shipside observes:
“It looks like the hot money is being attracted by Inner London, either being invested by new buyers or re-invested by those trading up and wanting to stay central. Some leaving Inner London will be choosing a borough a bit further out, but others are leap-frogging the outer boroughs altogether in favour of better choice and value in the South East. Perhaps as a consequence, new sellers in the South East are asking 15.0% more than they were at the start of the year compared with an average of just 6.8% in Outer London.”

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^*Inner London: Camden, City of Westminster, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth

^**Outer London: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston-upon-Thames, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Sutton, Waltham Forest

Rightmove doubles 2013 price forecast from 2% to 4%

At the beginning of the year Rightmove suggested a more positive outlook for 2013 and forecast average national asking prices would rise by around 2%. 

Given what we’ve seen over the first half of this year, we expect the average asking price of property coming to the market in England and Wales to end 2013 around 4% higher. 

While the current annual rate stands at 4.8%, in recent years the gains of the first-half of the year have been eaten away in the second. 

Between June and December last year, asking prices fell by 7%. The signs are that prices in 2013 will not dissipate as they have in recent years.

Shipside comments: “There will be significant underlying regional variations with some areas, primarily in the north, struggling to stay in positive territory for the year. London will continue to outperform the rest of the country and we also expect the South East, the main beneficiary of the ‘over-spill’ from the capital, to maintain its strong momentum, both driven by an on-going shortage of supply of property for sale. 

"Asking prices in the capital are currently 29% higher than they were five years ago compared with 7% in the South East and just 5% nationally."

House prices increase in all UK regions say Rightmove

Seven monthly rises on the trot and two consecutive record months as the price of newly marketed

property increases by 0.3% (+£860) in July boosting year-on-year growth to 4.8% (+£11,561)

 - Signs of a broader-based recovery: all regions up year-on-year for the first time in nearly three years contributing to the positive national picture - Confidence on the up: the proportion of people expecting average prices to be higher a year from now doubles compared to this time last year, now at 62% from 31%

- More movers and more to come: transactions already up 5%1 year-to-date and lead indicators suggest more in the pipeline – Rightmove email enquiries to agents and developers up 18% on

20122, new sellers up 5%3, mortgage approvals up 6%4 and surveyors ‘struggling to cope’

- Positive borrowing window: markets do not expect a base rate rise for three years, Funding for Lending competition easing rates and availability, plus ‘brick-shortage success’ of Help to Buy!

Annual change by region

Wales +2.4%

South West +2.4%

West Midlands +1%

North West +4.5%

North +1.2%

Yorkshire & Humberside +1.5%

East Midlands +4.4%

East Anglia +1.9%

South East +4.6%

Greater London +12%

Rightmove reports a seventh consecutive monthly rise in the price of property coming to market, up by 0.3% (+£860), and the second successive national record. New sellers are now asking 4.8% (+£11,561) more than a year ago, a big jump from the 2.7% annual rate recorded in June. With all regions showing a year-on-year increase for the first time since September 2010, several factors suggest this is a broader-based recovery fuelled by the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: “The market is currently benefitting from the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ where incremental improvements across a range of key market drivers compound to slowly but surely build momentum.

"Rightmove’s lead indicators show increases in enquiries, new sellers and marketing prices. An important milestone for a broader-based and sustainable recovery is that all regions of the country now have higher prices than a year ago firmly on the record”.

Confidence on the up: early findings from Rightmove’s latest Consumer Confidence Survey, which has already received more than 25,000 responses from home-movers, show that 62% expect property prices to be higher a year from now, double the 31% recorded a year ago.

Shipside observes: “The price optimists have doubled compared to just 12 months ago and now outnumber the price pessimists ten to one. Consumer confidence is key to the housing market and on this front there has finally been a year of minimal bad news, with a reasonable amount of good, after four years of pretty consistent doom and gloom. A combination of apparent economic stability internationally – or at least, less widely-reported turmoil and uncertainty – and some positive signs of an economic upturn nationally, mean more home-movers are willing and able to increase their financial commitments. Barring a raft of bad economic news, we expect the positive impact of this on the property market to continue.”

How Andy Murray's Wimbledon win hit web traffic for Rightmove

What were you doing on Sunday, July 7^th while Britain’s Andy Murray was playing in his second Wimbledon final? For hundreds of thousands of people the answer was that they were searching for their new dream home on Rightmove.

However, new research reveals that the conclusion of the final proved so compelling that home-movers put down their tablets, phones and laptops to give it their undivided attention. The temporary distraction from Rightmove – the seventh busiest website in the UK* – resulted in Rightmove’s biggest ever daily dip in traffic.

Miles Shipside, director at Rightmove comments:
“The rise in the popularity of consuming media using different devices at the same time – so-called dual and triple screening – means that we are well used to seeing nigh levels of traffic on Rightmove even during events that really capture the nation’s attention, like the Wimbledon final and The Olympics. The popularity of our mobile platforms mean usthat people can be looking for their dream home on Rightmove on a tablet or smartphone and taking in the Wimbledon final on television simultaneously. However, for around a twenty minute period around the conclusion of the Wimbledon final we saw traffic levels on mobile devices fall by nearly half from the peak hit earlier in the day and website traffic fall by about a third. It’s the single biggest traffic ‘hit’ we’ve ever seen!”

Home-hunter search patterns have changed a great deal in recent years, with the immediacy and convenience of tablets and smartphones responsible for a massive increase in traffic across Rightmove’s mobile platforms. More than 30% of all search activity on Rightmove now happens on one or other of its mobile platforms, and this often rises above 40% on a weekend with exceptional summer weather.

       

Shipside continues:
“Fine weather can affect our traffic. Though overall levels stay broadly the same, a higher proportion comes from tablets and smartphones as people take advantage of the fact they can take these devices with them to the garden, park or pub. However, Sunday was truly exceptional in terms of the impact of one single event. We saw something similar on ‘Super Saturday’ during the Olympics, when in space of an hour we saw three pronounced dips in traffic as people tuned in to see Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah win Olympic gold. While we obviously congratulate Andy Murray wholeheartedly, we were relieved to see that traffic levels on mobile and the Rightmove website returned to normal within an hour of him lifting the trophy!”

Pundits revise UK house price predictions

Pundits had forecast that, at best, house prices would tread water in 2013. Now they are rising and experts are scrambling to revise their predictions predictions prices are up 4% already.
Here is what the the experts predicted for 2013 (source: The Guardian)

Halifax
The bank said in December that prices were likely to end 2013 "close to where they begin", and forecast anything between a 2% fall and a 2% rise. The mortgage lender's chief economist, Martin Ellis, now admits that the rate of house price inflation may exceed that by the end of the year, although he says he has no imminent plans to formally change his forecast.
He says the stronger than anticipated growth was the result of numerous factors: signs of improvement in both the economy and housing markethave boosted confidence, a shortage of properties for sale, and the Funding for Lending and Help to Buy schemes. 

RICS
Rics forecast a 2% rise in prices over the course of 2013. Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist, was optimistic about the impact of Funding for Lending, but felt the uncertain outlook for the economy would keep a lid on prices. "As it turns out, Funding for Lending has been increasingly effective in lowering the cost of secured lending while increasing the availability of housing-related loans," he says now. "On top of that, economic newsflow has strengthened a little more than envisaged, and the government has also introduced Help to Buy." As a result, he says the 2% headline forecast appears to be "on the low side", and Rics is set to push this up "to the 4% area".

Nationwide
The building society's chief economist, Robert Gardner, said at the start of the year that he expected the housing market to "be characterised by low levels of activity" in 2013, "with prices remaining flat or modestly lower". He admits growth "has been a little stronger than we might have expected", but at 1.9% – the current annual rate of price growth – it is not far from his prediction, and cautions that a higher figure than that in July would be a result of prices falling in the same month last year. As for the rest of 2013, Gardner says: "We knew Funding for Lending and Help to Buy would provide support for the market, but if things like employment and wages pick up, they could lead to things being stronger than expected." Housing supply will be key, he says, and there are few signs that it is improving: new-build completions for England were down by 8% in the first part of the year. "If we get more demand but no more supply then there is a danger that will push up prices further," he says.

Centre for Economics and Business Research

The CEBR predicted prices would rise by 0.8% in 2013 to an average of £219,000. It revised that up to 1.4% in April and is just about to make a "small upward revision", although at the time of writing it wouldn't disclose exactly how much.Its economist Daniel Solomon says there are four reasons for the revision: previous forecasts had not taken into account Help to Buy; the Office for National Statistics house price estimates over the last quarter were marginally higher than CEBR had expected; the general economic environment had improved; and the depreciation in the pound this year was making UK houses in prime London more affordable for foreign buyers.

Knight Frank

The upmarket estate agent, was talking late last year of the longest housing market recovery on record, and predicted a 1% fall in prices this year. In June it revised its forecast upwards, saying Help to Buy had already improved buyer confidence, along with the prospect of continued low interest rates. "We see prices rising by 3% this year, just slightly above inflation," says head of UK residential research, Gráinne Gilmore.

Savills

Estate agent, predicted a 0.5% increase across the UK in 2013. Six months in, Lucian Cook, director of residential research, says prices could rise by up to 5% this year. "There are signs of improved sentiment. For example, the Rics survey shows a big uptick in new-buyer inquiries and a gap between that and supply. When that happens, prices are pushed up," he says. 

Rightmove

The property website, said "the slow recovery" would continue through 2013, forecasting a 2% rise in asking prices in England and Wales over the year, assisted by greater competition among lenders. In its latest house price report it says that across England and Wales asking prices have risen by 10.4% in the first six months of the year. Every region has seen growth, from the East Midlands up by 5.8%, to the south-east where sellers are asking for 14.8% more than at the start of the year.

Its director, Miles Shipside, says he now expects asking prices to end the year up 4%.

Average UK house price goes past £250,000

The national average asking price of a property coming to market is over a quarter of a million pounds for the first time. 
The new record was achieved as prices rose 1.2% (+£2,957) in June, the sixth consecutive monthly rise this year. While London sets another new record of £515,243, continuing its upward trajectory, the biggest winner is the South East which sees a record price of £329,968 as a result of a whopping 14.8% increase over the first six months of 2013.

There is also early evidence of a wider recovery as asking prices in the north (North, North West, Yorks & Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, and Wales) rose by 9.2% , almost keeping pace with the 10.6% seen in the south (Greater London, South East, South West and East Anglia) over the first half of the year.

 Given asking prices reflect the aspirations of both sellers and local estate agents they are a leading measure of market confidence. These increases, along with reports from agents and developers of a pick-up in transactions, suggest a wider and more sustainable recovery as the price buoyancy of the London market shows signs of spreading across the country.

Miles Shipside, director and housing market analyst at Rightmove comments: “While this month sees several new price records, it’s the South East that has really started to lift-off. On top of that, the first half of 2013 saw little sign of the traditional north-south divide with the first-half asking price surge in the north almost equal to that of the south. The good news is that this indicates a wider upturn, albeit at historically low but increasing volumes. 

The bad news for would be buyers is that it has helped propel the average price of a property coming to market through the quarter of a million quid milestone for the first time. It is worth remembering that while the asking price and the eventual sale price may differ by a small margin, the asking price is a very strong indicator of perceived market value and direction.  It will take account of local supply and demand, as well as wider economic forces such as interest rates and consumer confidence.”

The national average asking price of a property coming to market is £252,798, beating the previous record of £249,841 set in May.

 Property market recoveries are traditionally led by London and, belatedly, the trend set in the capital now appears to be spreading as a broader housing market recovery is potentially on the cards. In price terms, this is the strongest start to a year since 2004, with both the south and north playing their parts with increases of 10.6% and 9.2% respectively.

 Unusually, London’s 10.9% (+£50,845) jump year to date has been surpassed by two northern regions; the North region at 11.0% (+£15,134) and the West Midlands at 11.3% (+£19,665). The South East is, however, the main beneficiary of the London boom, with the ripple effect contributing to a 14.8% (+£42,548) hike in the first six months of 2013.

Shipside observes: “London’s new sellers are asking an average of 30% more than they were four years ago compared to those in the South East who are asking less than 15% more. Although the South East has lagged behind the capital in recent years it is the biggest winner so far this year as, frankly, it has become ‘under-priced’. It offers real comparative value for buyers needing access to London but with housing needs or aspirations that leave them priced out of London itself. While some northern regions outpaced London this year, the price gap remains daunting for those looking to up sticks and head to the bright but dazzlingly expensive lights of the capital. The average price of a property in London is still more than three times higher than in the north.”

Asking price record tumbles

• The national average asking price record has tumbled, almost breaking the £250,000 Mark, according to the Rightmove House Price Index. 
• It was a South-led price surge as London, South East and East Anglia hit all-time highs.
• In London Camden led the 3.3% price surge with prices up 7.2%, going past the £1m mark. 
• Buyers in the capital were facing new sellers’ average asking prices in excess of £500,000 for the first time. 
• The typical property in the capital is now more than twice as expensive as the national average.
• The national average asking price stands at £249,841, as new sellers raise prices by 2.1% (+£5,135) this month. This is the fifth consecutive monthly rise leaves prices 9.1% (+£20,852) higher year-to-date, the strongest price start to a year since 2004
• East Anglia saw 4% increases to an average asking price of £233,000, while the South East was up 1.8%.
• The North saw price rises of 4.2%, while in Wales prices were up 1%. The North West was up 1.7%, Yorkshire and Humberside and the East Midlands 1.2%, West Midlands 0.2% and and the South West 0.6%.
• Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: “The tumbling of records is being driven by the equity-rich generation with a definite southern bias, though agents in most parts of the country are reporting strong demand for well-priced and decent-quality stock. Despite a new national record, it’s not ‘green-shoots of recovery’ across the board, especially for the deposit-strapped mass-market. They must wait patiently until January when the Help to Buy scheme extends to the resale market, unless new homes developers can increase building dramatically this year.”