Recent UK property market data and news presents a mixed picture for homeowners and landlords. Average house prices have continued to edge upwards, although higher mortgage rates may affect affordability and buyer demand.
What can you buy for the average house price in Great Britain?
There is a national average asking house price. It currently stands at £378,000. But the figure is somewhat academic because the same money buys a quite different property wherever you happen to be in the UK, revealed a survey of the market by the online listings website Rightmove on the 30th of June.
That average sum of £378,000 has a different value for a home to the east of Glasgow in Scotland, the northeast of England, or Yorkshire than it does in London.
In those northern locations, for instance, the national average price might buy you a four-bedroom detached house, while in London, the same sum would stretch to a fairly modest flat or even just a studio apartment in some parts of the metropolis.
Wherever buyers have set their sights, however, higher mortgage rates are likely to mean that affordability becomes the overriding consideration for many buyers.
Higher mortgage rates make homes harder to sell
A report by the BBC on the 30th of June underscored the impact that higher mortgage rates appear to be having on the housing market.
Current market conditions suggest that homes may be taking longer to sell, with three out of five houses remaining on the market since the beginning of the year. According to the report, agreed sales by the end of June were around 7% lower than at the same time last year. Regional variations meant that this fall in sales dropped to a slump of 11% in the East Midlands and 12% in Wales.
Increasing mortgage rates are affecting first-time buyers in particular. In London, for example, buyers are facing an increase in the cost of their first home of some £232 a month.
House price growth edges up in June
The latest release of figures by the Nationwide Building Society on the growth of house prices showed annual house price growth increasing from 1.7% in May to 2.2% in June.
The national average of a 2.2% increase incorporates wide regional variations. In Northern Ireland, for example, that figure is 8.6% (on an average house price of £226,699). At the other end of the scale, in the wider southeast of England, house prices have risen by a mere 0.1% in the second quarter of the year.
Despite these increases, a number of factors continue to influence housing market activity, including seasonal trends, geopolitical uncertainty, energy prices and mortgage affordability.
Making Tax Digital deadlines: Is your business affected?
Are you ready for the switch to Making Tax Digital (MTD)? Do you know whether your buy-to-let business needs to comply with MTD? And if it does, do you know what’s involved?
An article by Propertymark on the 29th of June aimed to clarify matters.
Since 6 April this year, landlords and sole traders with qualifying income of more than £50,000 from self-employment and/or property in the previous tax year (2024/25) have been required by HM Revenue and Customs to comply with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
From 6 April next year, the threshold will reduce to qualifying income of more than £30,000, and from 6 April 2028 it will reduce further to more than £20,000. Further reading: Gov.UK.
