Yorkshire sellers boost housing market with 6.3pc rise

Research by the major property website, Rightmove, has seen sellers’ asking prices lifted by 6.3 per cent compared to previous year.

Asking prices increased by one per cent month-on-month across England and Wales in January to reach £243,861 on average, marking the biggest monthly jump it has seen for this time of year in records going back to 2002.

The year-on-year increase of 6.3 per cent in prices is the highest annual rise seen since November 2007 as sellers anticipate a fresh surge in buyer demand in 2014.

Asking prices in London recorded the strongest annual rise, with a seven per cent increase taking the average price of a home to £514,704.

But as housing market confidence broadens, regions scattered across the country also saw strong year-on-year asking price growth.

Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the second strongest annual rise in asking prices, with a 6.8 per cent rise taking the average price to £155,371. Prices in Wales rose by 6.2 per cent year-on-year to reach £163,181. Elsewhere in North asking prices fell year-on-year, with a small 0.1 per cent decrease edging prices down to £136,786.

Miles Shipside, a director of Rightmove, said: “This is the strongest start to a new year for house prices that Rightmove has ever recorded, and that will get some potential sellers salivating at the thought of better moving prospects.

“With buyer demand on the up and price levels having hardened, the likelihood of finding a buyer at an acceptable price will be a potential boost to new seller numbers, especially for those trading up and needing a decent deposit to access more competitive mortgage rates.”

Over the last decade, the month of January has seen asking prices on Rightmove fall by an average of 0.2 per cent on the previous month as housing market activity usually slows down around Christmas.

A new phase of the Government’s flagship Help to Buy scheme was launched last October and lenders including Barclays, Santander, NatWest and Halifax have come on board the scheme, which offers state-backed mortgages to credit-worthy people who have struggled to move on to or up the property ladder because they have only a low deposit saved.

But as demand outstrips supply sellers are responding by pushing up their prices.

Rightmove said that the average stock of homes for sale per estate agency branch has fallen to its lowest level since February 2007, having dropped from 64 properties a year ago to a current level of 58.

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