Month-on-month, prices were down 0.8%, but this was the smallest monthly decrease seen this year, reiterating the return to price growth as shown in the annual change.
SmartNewHomes.com also records how much homebuyers indicate they are willing to pay for a new home. This figure has risen by 5% over the last year, and has consistently recorded greater price increases than supply prices, effectively closing the gap between the two sets of figures and showing that buyer activity is still strong.
With prices in London decreasing slightly, the exodus of homebuyers from the capital is reducing, with migration at -4.8% compared to a low of -8.4% last summer. Similarly, with steadying prices, rising incomes and full employment the South East now finds itself at the top end of the popularity scale after two years of negative migration. Scotland and the South West are the most popular areas to move in to and the East and West Midlands have the highest proportion of homebuyers moving out of their area.
The proportion of new properties for sale that are apartments soared to a new high (55.9%) at the expense of detached homes (30.5%). However the prices of the property types reveals a converse pattern, with detached and semi-detached homes rising over the year (up 17.7% and 8.8% respectively) and apartments and townhouses decreasing (down 9.8% and 4.0% respectively), suggesting that a shortage in detached homes has pushed their price up with an abundance of apartments having a converse effect on their price.
David Bexon, Chief Executive of SmartNewHomes.com, comments: “As we predicted, the housing market is on the turn and prices are beginning to increase again. However we are not out of the woods yet. Many factors could still hamper market growth, including the possibility of interest rate rises or continued warnings forecasting a crash. In addition, the imminent election is likely to slow activity for a few weeks but could then provoke an upsurge in activity following the result.”
