UK property asking prices rise in sign housing market has bottomed out
- 1.1 per cent monthly rise in asking prices at the start of spring season is a bigger than usual increase
- London landlords fed up with the capital’s high taxes and property prices are increasingly investing in other parts of the UK
Asking prices for British homes rose by the most in over a year in the four weeks to April 6, a survey showed, adding to other tentative signs that the housing market may have passed the worst of its slowdown ahead of Brexit.
The 1.1 per cent monthly rise in asking prices was a bigger increase than usual at the start of the spring season and reduced the fall in prices in annual terms to 0.1 per cent, property website Rightmove said.
Britain’s housing market has stumbled since the 2016 Brexit referendum with most measures of prices showing only minimal growth in recent months. But some data has suggested that the slowdown stabilised in early 2019.
Rightmove director Miles Shipside said last week’s delay of Britain’s exit from the European Union could spur hesitant home movers into action.
“We are not anticipating an activity surge, but maybe a wave of relief that releases some pent-up demand to take advantage of static property prices and cheap fixed-rate mortgages,” he said, noting visits to Rightmove’s website hit a record high in March.
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Rightmove’s data is based on property advertisements on its website, which it says accounts for 90 per cent of residential property on sale in the United Kingdom.