Average asking price up

THE average asking price for UK properties has risen by £2,414 in the first two months of 2018 — an increase of 0.8 per cent according to property price comparison website Rightmove.

However, this figure is only half the 1.6 per cent monthly average recorded at this time of year over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the number of properties coming to the market was up two per cent compared to 2017 — despite the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors saying that homeowners were delaying moving unless it was absolutely necessary, having been deterred by economic and political uncertainty.

Miles Shipside of Rightmove called the increase in the number of properties coming on to the market “a small step in the right direction”, adding: “With not enough supply of new-build properties, the market needs more churn from existing owners to get the healthy balance of buyer momentum without unhealthy property scarcity and consequent higher prices.”