Property Market News

London continues to be the region with the lowest property price inflation rate, according to the latest UK HPI: +0.2% in November and+5.1% for the year.

3.3% of private homes in London changed hands in a 12 month periods, with eight boroughs seeing more than one in every 25 homes sell.

The average asking price of a property listed for sale outside London on OnTheMarket in December was £364k, up 3.7% from the same month last year. Within Greater London, the average asking price was £1.

“London’s super-prime markets stellar end to the year is evidence of the influence that the pandemic-fuelled desire for more space has on residential markets," says Savills.

"Early-bird sellers who got themselves ready to come to market are now benefitting from the busiest start to the year that we’ve ever recorded," says Rightmove.

Rightmove recorded just 3% more property searches in London than in Cornwall through 2021, compared to a gap of 24% in 2020, and 49% in 2019.

Savills' head of residential research reflects on how forecasters translate actions and events into numbers and trends to come up with property market predictions for the year ahead.

A record 92% of sellers sold their property in 2021 for more than they bought it, according to Hamptons, having owned it for an average of 8.8 years.

“We’ve seen significant competition for homes throughout the year and I can’t see that changing in 2022,” says Edward Douglas-Home, head of Scottish residential at Knight Frank.

Savills expects prime regional price growth to moderate this year, while Prime Central London prices feel ready to surge upwards.

Savills and Knight Frank have both reported surging rental prices in Prime London, as tenants return to town.

“I’ve never known a time like it in 30-plus years," says Rupert Sweeting, head of national country sales at Knight Frank.