Asking prices hit record high of £250,000

Asking prices have reached a new high so does this mean the housing market has recovered?

Asking prices reached an average record-high of £252,798 in June across England and Wales.

Annually prices have risen by 2.7%, according to Rightmove, and this is the first time average prices have toppled the £250,000 barrier.

Those in the south east have shot up the fastest by 14.8% and the main causes of the rise are higher buyer confidence and lower mortgage rates.

Record high prices

New houses on the property market reached an average record high in June and every region of the UK has seen an increase in prices since the start of the year.

This is the strongest start to a year since 2004 with an overall rise of 10.6% in the south and 9.2% in the north of England.

The biggest rise was seen in the south east of England where property prices went up 14.8% to an average of £329,968. This is mainly due to how close the area is to London but prices were also on the rise in other parts of the UK.

The West Midlands, for example, saw an 11.3% rise of £19,665 and there was an 11% rise of £15,134 in the north.

Miles Shipside, spokesperson for Rightmove, explained that the first half of 2013 saw little sign of the traditional north-south divide with the first-half asking price surge in the north almost equal to that of the south.

“The good news is that this indicates a wider upturn, albeit at historically low but increasing volumes. The bad news for would be buyers is that it has helped propel the average price of a property coming to market through the quarter of a million quid milestone for the first time,” he said.

Consumer confidence  

One of the main reasons for the recent boom is a return of consumer confidence. There is now less uncertainty across both the UK  and the world economy which means people are more likely to commit to buying and selling.

Another major factor is competition between lenders. Prices have been falling since the introduction of the Government’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) which means more people can now afford a mortgage.

Setting the right price

When selling your house it’s important to set an asking price that is in line with the market, and the key to this is research.The houses being sold on websites such as Rightmove are your competition, says Shipside, so looking at the photos, floorplan, descriptions and Google street view will show you what you will be up against to find a buyer.

You could also check Zoopla and the HM Land Registry website. These sites will give you a clearer ideas of what similar properties have sold for recently.

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