Asking prices up across UK led by Scotland and East Anglia

Asking prices have risen across all regions in England, Scotland and Wales over the last month, reflecting widespread positive sentiment across the UK, the latest index suggests.

However, higher prices are also tempting vendors to put their properties on the market and the supply of property for sale in London, for example, has overtaken demand, according to the latest index from Home.co.uk.

This is shown by a steep rise in the typical time on market which is currently 71 days, some 24 days longer than in March 2014, the report points out, although supply rises in other regions are much more muted.

Asking price rises are led by East Anglia and Scotland, both with a monthly rise of 1.4%, and annual rises of 6.2% and 8% respectively. The report also says that an optimism abounds as even in the least well performing areas of the North East and Wales, prices have risen 0.4% and 0.3% respectively since February.

A breakdown of the figures show that asking prices in London prices increased a further 2.1% despite rising supply and are up 31% year on year. While asking prices have increased by 1.1% overall in England and Wales during the last month but the average annual appreciation has fallen to 6.8%.

Overall, the current mix-adjusted average asking price for England and Wales shows that properties on the market are valued 6.8% higher than they were in March 2014. The typical time on market for England and Wales is now 119 days, which is eight days less than this time last year, and shows that the market continues to gain momentum overall.

‘House prices are surging again, over and above seasonal expectations. The key market drivers of low mortgage interest rates and low supply remain very much in place,’ said Doug Shephard, Home.co.uk director. He pointed out that so far, the market correction in prime central London has not affected sentiment elsewhere in the country, and the flow of mortgage credit to homebuyers and property investors alike continues unabated.

‘We maintain that the best prospects for stable growth this year and next probably lie in regions such as East Anglia, East Midlands, the South West, West Midlands and perhaps Yorkshire. It may be argued that these regions are still in the throes of the recovery phase, as supply remains low and prices have not yet risen out of reach,’ he explained.

‘There are also further indicators that the recovery will, at last, lift the northern regions out of the misery of price stagnation. Those markets are gaining momentum and above inflation price rises look highly likely over the coming months,’ he added.

He also pointed out that while prospects for price growth are poor for prime central London this year as an abundance of unsold stock has been whittling away at property values, for the time being, prices do appear to be stabilising. ‘The investment outlook for Greater London remains mixed but will slowly turn negative as supply increases,’ he concluded.