The rate of house price growth slowed to single digits in the 12 months to December 2022, with the properties increasing 9.8 per cent over the period.
House prices increased by £26,000 over the year, according to the latest figures from the ONS, taking the average residential property price in the UK to £294,000. This is down from last month’s record high of £296,000.
However, in the month of December alone, house prices fell by 0.4 per cent or £2,000. This followed an increase of 0.2 per cent in the previous month.
House prices increased by £26,000 over the year to December 2022, according to the ONS
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former Rics residential chairman, says: ‘Clearly, the direction of travel of the housing market is no longer strongly up but it’s not sharply down either.
‘These comprehensive but dated figures lay bare the impact on prices of the ill-fated mini-Budget in the fourth quarter of last year.
‘On the ground since, we are finding that buyers still have an appetite. However, they are increasingly flexing their muscles and adjusting to an improving bargaining position as stabilising mortgage rates and inflation bring more balance.’
Average house prices have dived £15,500 since August, according to Nationwide, after mortgage rate hikes at the end of last year hammer buyers.
Most recently Halifax has reported house price growth slowing to just 1.9 per cent in January, but reamiend flat month-on-month.
Mortgage rates have been slowly falling since the start of the year with a number of fixed rate deals below 4 per cent now on the market.
In addition, the number of mortgage products on the market has surpassed 4,000 for the first time since August last year, according to the latest data from Moneyfacts.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland all saw double digit house price growth in 2021/22
Broken down by region England and Wales both saw property prices rise by 10.3 per cent over the year, while prices in Northern Ireland rose by 10.2 per cent with Scotland the worst off with just 5.7 per cent growth.
The average house price in England is now £222,000. The East Midlands saw the highest annual percentage change in the 12 months to December of 12.3 per cent, while London saw the lowest – 6.7 per cent – of all English regions.
