House prices in London leapt by 2.2% over August alone, as demand for space to live soars in the capital. Data from Rightmove reveals the average asking price of a property in the UK has increased by 0.9% in September and now stands at £294,834. The price of property coming to market in London has rebounded from its holiday-season lull to jump by 2.2 per cent or £13,177.
The figures also show that the property rich are getting richer, with the top 15 highest-priced counties all rising by double the national average at 1.8%.
Not only will rental yields be higher when tenant demand is more pronounced, but investors with sentiment high in the UK property market, will find that future buyers are more likely to pay higher prices for assets that are already performing well.
Mr Shipside, of Rightmove, said: “Prices in this bracket have on average gone up by nearly £10,000 in the last year , hence new sellers had to lower their prices”.
He added: “The back-to-normal service has resulted in new seller asking prices reaching another milestone, a record high”. “This year’s price surge in the first-time-buyer sector has stalled this month, and has now been overtaken by second-stepper homes both in terms of monthly and annual increases”.
Those who own property that is in most demand, either by type or location, are seeing their values continue to rise. They said they now expected prices in England and Wales to grow by 5% in 2015, up from a prediction of 4% made at the end of previous year .
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said however that there was no indication the 9.5 per cent a year growth was sustainable.
Meanwhile, the average price tag on a starter home has fallen by 1.1% month-on-month. And at that rate, the average house price will be more than £302,000 by December, Right Move said.
People selling properties with at least three bedrooms, suitable for people climbing up the property ladder rather than first-time buyers, hiked their asking prices by 1.2 per cent on average in the last month.