House Prices in October 2022
The average house prices in October 2022 on the market in the UK went up again, reaching a new high of £371,158. This rise is actually a slight increase from the previous month and a little less than the average for October over the last five years. There has been a lot of talk about house prices in October 2022 and how things like rising interest rates and living costs could affect them.
What is the reason behind the rise in House Prices in October 2022?
House prices have gone up this month because there are still more people looking to move than there are homes for sale. This means that people who put their homes on the market for the first time in the last month did not feel the need to lower their asking prices to get buyers interested.
One property expert at Right Move, Tim Bannister, says: “What’s going to happen to house prices is likely to be on the minds of many home-movers right now, especially following the market uncertainty after the government’s mini-budget. There has been no immediate effect on average prices, but we’re seeing yearly growth in asking prices continue to soften.”
What has 2022 been like so far?
So far in 2022, there have been slightly fewer people looking to buy homes than in the two very busy years before. After the pandemic “race for space” started to slow down, the housing market has been moving toward something more “normal,” which we last saw in 2019.
But there are still more people looking to move than there are homes for sale, which has kept prices going up.
But because average mortgage interest rates have gone up so quickly, some people who wanted to move have put their plans on hold. Demand dropped by 15% in the two weeks after the mini-budget, compared to the same two weeks last year. Still, it’s higher than it was during the same time in 2019.
Tim says, “I can see why some new movers who can wait might want a clearer picture than they’re getting right now before making a big purchase like a home.”
“Because nobody knows where mortgage interest rates will go, those who can still afford to move may decide that waiting too long could cost even more than moving now, especially if the number of house purchase continues to be higher than the number of homes for sale, which will keep house prices high,” he says.
Will house prices keep rising?
In the opinion of some property experts, it will take a while for the market to settle into a new, more “normal” level of activity after the last two years were so busy, especially since new developments are happening almost every day right now.
