If your big goal for 2024 is to sell your property, it may come as a particularly interesting discovery to learn that asking prices have risen significantly in the early weeks of the year.
Rightmove’s House Price Index for February has found that average asking prices have increased by £3,091 since the last survey to £362,839, an increase of 0.9 per cent. This rise comes after six months of falls and means that asking prices are now up on a year ago, albeit by 0.1 per cent.
This has coincided with a jump in sales, helped by some falls in mortgage rates, as sales in the first six weeks of 2024 have been up by 16 per cent on the same period last year.
However, beneath these headline figures, Rightmove has identified what it describes as a “two-speed market”. It noted that when homes are priced realistically, sellers are usually successful in achieving a sale. But sellers who asked too high a price have struggled to sell.
Commenting on this, Rightmove’s director of property science Tim Bannister said: “Buyers now have more choice of property for sale and many are still very price-sensitive, with mortgage rates remaining elevated.”
Given that the Bank of England is still cautious about inflation (as emphasised in the February Inflation Report) and therefore seemingly not yet ready to cut interest rates, mortgage costs may remain elevated for months yet, meaning realistic asking prices will remain particularly important as buyers on tight budgets act cautiously.
If you are trying to sell your property but haven’t been successful yet, it may be you are asking a little too much. Alternatively, you may be about to put it on the market and not be sure how much to ask.
That’s why it may be wise to talk to our experts about what a realistic price may be, to take advantage of what may be the start of a housing market recovery.
