Residential property market report for Yorkshire and beyond plus some good advice for buyers and sellers

However, buyers are still active and are searching for the right property at the right price so it is vital that estate agents tell their vendors of the need to capture attention with a competitive price from the first day of marketing not least because starting too high and reducing later damages the chance of a sale.

Rightmove’s latest house price index shows that seller asking prices in Yorkshire were up by 0.6 per cent over the past month and 1.8 per cent year-on-year with the average time to sell now 60 days. The average house price in Yorkshire is now £248,000, according to the property portal. The nearby North West saw asking prices rise by 0.9 per cent over the past month and 1.8 per cent year-on-year with the average time to sell is 60 days. The North East saw asking prices fall five per cent over the month but posted a 0.7 gain year-on-year while properties there took an average 54 days to sell.

The North West, North East, Yorkshire and Scotland were the only areas in Britain to post year-on-year positive growth albeit in low figures.

Ben Hudson, Managing Director at Hudson Moody estate agents in York, said: “The market is more price sensitive than it has ever been, making pricing accurately so crucial.

“Being too optimistic with the asking price causes a double-whammy for sellers as not only do they inevitably have to reduce the price of their home anyway, but they often put off potential buyers with too high an initial asking price and then struggle to recapture attention when it is reduced.

“Sellers who price realistically or even a little modestly often find they are met with more than one buyer who is attracted by the good-value pricing and then suddenly there is competition to buy the property which typically results in a higher agreed price.”

Ben adds: “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster market this year but certainly right now confidence is returning and we are heading back to more normal, cyclical patterns. If sellers price right, there are buyers out there for them.”

Average fixed mortgage rates, which have fallen slightly, have helped the market. The average two-year fixed rate is now below six per cent for the first time since June and the average five-year fixed rate has dropped from 6.08 per cent 11 weeks ago to 5.43 per cent.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Science, says: “Mortgage rates continue to trend in the right direction. Those with a larger deposit have seen the biggest benefit from recent rate drops, with rates for those with a smaller deposit, typically those further down the housing ladder, are not dropping as quickly. The mortgage market is much more stable right now compared to three months ago, giving movers a little more assurance over the rate they are likely to be offered and therefore what they are likely to be able to afford.

“Those looking to secure a new home for the new year should apply for a Mortgage in Principle to work out what they could afford, and should listen to local estate agents about what’s happening in their local housing market.”

Meanwhile, a survey by property portal On the Market shows that 74 per cent of buyers in the UK were confident that they would purchase a property within the next three months and 37 per cent of properties were Sold Subject to Contract within 30 days of first being advertised for sale, compared with 53 per cent in September 2022

Over at Home.co.uk, its statistics show that asking prices across England and Wales bounced up by 0.2 per cent in September, making the year-on-year fall in asking prices just 1.5 per cent with the supply rate of new instructions entering the market “remarkably restrained”.

Home.co.uk says that the UK housing market is much more resilient than many pundits have asserted and add that, despite higher borrowing costs, the current market shows marked similarities in all the key metrics to that of pre-COVID years 2018 and 2019. However, average UK asking prices are 14.4 per cent higher and asking rents are a staggering 52.6 per cent higher than in October 2018.