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Written by rosalind renshaw

House prices nudged up for the second month running, by just 0.1% this month, but slowing growth in demand and rising supply is set to reverse the price trend, Hometrack reported this morning.

Separately, the British Bankers Association said that just 31,888 mortgages were approved for house purchase last month – the lowest figure since April 2011.

Outside London and southern England – where prices roses 0.3% and 0.1% respectively – prices were either static or falling, Hometrack said.

Hometrack also reported a slowing of demand, with a 2.1% rise in new applicants – half the level in March – compared with a 4.8% rise in property listings.

While sales agreed rose by 10.1% this month, this compared with monthly rises of 35.7% in February and 13.2% in March.

With supply now up by almost 19% in the last three months, Hometrack said that if April’s pattern of a slowdown in demand and rising supply continues, there will be an impact on prices.

Hometrack director of research Richard Donnell said: “The impetus for price rises over the last two months has been higher demand – buyer registrations are up almost 25% over the last three months.

“This is largely explained by the recent ending of the Stamp Duty holiday combined with the usual upturn in demand associated with the spring buying season.

“The impact of these drivers of housing demand is starting to dissipate… If April’s slowdown in demand and rising supply continues over the coming month, we will begin to see a reduction in the upward pressure on prices.”

He added: “The short to medium-term outlook for prices hinges on the outlook for demand.

“Conflicting reports over the strength of the economy and renewed fears over the prospects for the Eurozone could, over the coming months, impact on buyer confidence. As a result, we expect price rises to flatten out as we move into the summer.”

According to Hometrack, average time on the market is now 9.3 weeks, with an average of 11.1 viewings per sale. However there are significant regional variations, with a property in Greater London taking just 5.3 weeks to sell, compared with 12.8 weeks in Wales and 12.7 weeks in the East Midlands.

A separate survey, by portal FindaProperty, says asking prices in the UK have gone up by 1.8% since the start of the year – and in London by 5.4%. The average asking price stood at £221,387 at the end of March.

Comments

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    Brit1234, how informed, thank you for telling us, we did not know that, you are just so smart.

    • 02 May 2012 13:49 PM
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    We won't get the big falls in land registry for another 3 months due to the lag. I ignore hometrack, rightmove and their like.

    • 01 May 2012 20:20 PM
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    who is a 'C' ?

    • 01 May 2012 17:13 PM
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    Anon, leave it out, Jonnie's alright for an EA.

    You might find this adage helpful in future - 'I before E except after C'

    • 01 May 2012 15:48 PM
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    Anon Below

    Which bit does no one believe?

    Jonnie

    P.s well done on your post not being pointless as well, good work.

    • 01 May 2012 15:02 PM
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    Jonnie cor you are so clever, what a pointless post, fool do you think anyone belives you?

    • 01 May 2012 13:11 PM
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    @rant

    Finally some downward movement on London prices and probably 4 years later than many thought…………………………………however, I did say a while back that it would be interesting to see what the FTB push on completions prior to the stamp duty change would make, whilst I have always avoided predicting house prices on the grounds no one has ever called it right so I certainly wont I cant help but think that with so many FTB purchases being pushed along / condensed into March the ‘average’ property was possibly just cheaper?

    As always we will see, be daft to use 1 months numbers especially from a ‘unique’ month but it could be that the lower prices / increased volumes thing is coming true

    Jonnie

    P.s – More one for fellow EA’s but appo numbers up, viewings, offers, new sales all up and im sure im not the only one?

    • 01 May 2012 11:44 AM
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    London prices down 1.8% in March, according to the Land Reg details out just now.

    Full report here:
    http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/6552/HPI-Mar-12.pdf

    • 01 May 2012 11:15 AM
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    Just shows that interest rates have little to do with prices.

    • 01 May 2012 08:44 AM
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    Since 2007 a £200,000 house would now be worth £400,000 if labour/ banks had been allowed to carry on......ed balls/blair etc should be put away for 10 years,,,thick idiots. Where was it going to end if banks hadnt run out of money????

    • 30 April 2012 23:07 PM
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    I wish they hadnt made interst rates 0%,,,we could have had one almighty crash in 2008 and now be working in a fair economy.

    • 30 April 2012 23:05 PM
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    Insider sources say that tomorrow's Land Reg will be negative and come in at -0.6% for the month of March.

    • 30 April 2012 17:36 PM
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    Beacuse no FTB would have agreed deal to beat the deadline as it would not have gone through in time. So agents would have been busy getting old sales agreed week prior not sorting new ones.

    • 30 April 2012 15:53 PM
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    @FBA - I was alluding to the fall in approvals rather than prices (poor show from an HPCer I know).

    @Real - Why would March have been dead then?

    • 30 April 2012 14:26 PM
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    Yawn! What do you expect Neo?

    Added by Neo on 2012-04-30 13:21:50 "What no comments?"

    EA's are bored with this subject matter, they would be better off talking about yoyo's. Up Down, Up Down.

    HPC'ers flock to stories like this. To an EA it means very little. EA's follow the market and effect sales, at whatever level the market is at.

    • 30 April 2012 13:47 PM
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    Through our relocation wotk we talk to many agents accross much of the country, slow start to April due to Easter and the weather, now picking up and finishing the month well. Little to do with stamp duty or March would have been dead as of course, genreally sales will now be agreed and complete in the same month. Now all those not really in the know will post considerable twadle

    • 30 April 2012 13:43 PM
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    What no comments? I recall a few months back quite a few regulars here claiming that the stamp duty holiday hadn't made a difference to sales. Apparently so it seems, perhaps it wasn't a new paradigm after all..

    BTW, loved this: "We will begin to see a reduction in the upward pressure in prices" :-D

    • 30 April 2012 13:21 PM
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