House prices 2015: where property prices are rising and falling

Is your home in one of 2015’s property hotspots or has its value collapsed faster than a sinkhole?

In some parts of London this year, property values have been rising by more than the average inhabitant’s income. In other words, the houses are earning more than their owners.

Of course, that seems like another world to many of us. Up and down the country there are plenty of pockets where prices are stagnant, or falling, and other areas where owners simply cannot sell. In fact, that is the case in the capital too, where not all areas are enjoying a house price boom.

London falling?

Some sectors of London’s property market haven’t been at all buoyant during 2015. Spare a thought for those buying and selling multi-million pound homes in prime central London, for these poor souls have had a challenging year.

Camilla Dell, managing partner at property consultancy Black Brick, said that this year’s property losers are the owners of properties in the £2 million to £5 million price bracket. As a result of increased Stamp Duty, transaction volumes have fallen 20% and it takes much longer to sell a property. She is also seeing price falls in prime markets such as Knightsbridge, where prices have come down by 4.5% in the last 12 months.

Estate agent Jeremy Leaf also picked prime central London as a ‘loser’, as well as parts of the South East. He said that properties in the region have failed to sell unless heavily discounted, or have fallen in value mainly due to the Stamp Duty reforms.

But many parts of London, specifically those relatively lower priced areas with more growth potential, have performed well. For example the London Borough of Haringey was voted one of the year’s property winners in a survey by GetAgent, which reckons that asking prices in the borough have gone up 47% in the year, with average asking prices crossing the £1 million mark in October.

Overall London has seen double digit price growth of 13% year-on-year (based on the third quarter of 2015) according to Halifax, better than any other region.

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Regional growth

In the year to November the region that saw the greatest increase in house prices, according to Rightmove, was the East of England, with Wales performing worst.

Rightmove’s index tracks average asking prices, so it’s important to remember that a decent proportion of properties on the market do not end up selling, and those that do sell could go for significantly lower prices. But the index uses a large sample and it give a good indication of the future path of sold prices. It reckons that all regions apart from Wales saw an increase in prices in the year to November.

Source: Rightmove, November 2015

The Land Registry produces a house price index which is based on sold house prices, so it captures actual property values. The only downside is that because sold properties are registered with them after completion this index lags behind the market by a couple of months. Other indices take a snapshot at an earlier part of the process.

The most recent data available at the time of writing showed that properties in London had seen the highest rise in prices over the previous 12 months, while Yorkshire and the Humber saw the smallest increase. Interestingly, this index of sold prices doesn’t show a drop in values in Wales.

Source: Land Registry, October 2015

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Time to sell

Another indicator of a property market on the up, or on the slide, can be the average time it takes to sell a home. If you tried to sell your home in 2015, where you live will have made a huge difference as to how long you will have waited, or still be waiting for a buyer.

Of course the best properties will always sell, but for example sellers in Llandudno wait an average of 390 days to secure a sale, compared to just 78 days in Portslade by Sea, according to Quickmovenow.

The 5 worst-performing regions if you’re looking for a quick house sale are:

1. Llandudno: 390 days
2. Hartlepool: 355 days
3. Crosby: 339 days
4. Billingham: 328 days
5. Skegness: 326 days

And the five best places for a quick house sale in England and Wales are:

1. Portslade-by-Sea: 78 days
2. Basingstoke 85 days
3. Balham 85 days
4. Hove: 87 days
5. Clapham: 88 days

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