Asking prices for UK residential properties rising in April

LONDON, UK: This week, property website Rightmove said prices of UK homes are close to their record highs after the biggest annual increase in a year, suggesting that the momentum in the housing market of early 2024 extended into April.

The website added that asking prices for residential properties increased by 1.7 percent in the four weeks to April 13 compared with the same period last year.

Rightmove further said asking prices rose by 1.1 percent in month-on-month terms, slowing from a 1.5 percent rise in the previous four weeks. The average new seller's asking price was £372,324 (US$463,320).

Assisted by a fall in borrowing costs that surged in 2022 due to former Prime Minister Liz Truss's controversial tax cut plans that upset financial markets, other UK housing market measures have also shown demand and price recoveries.

Rightmove said the number of new sellers was 12 percent higher than in 2023, and the number of sales increased by 13 percent. Demand was strongest in the high-end segment.

It added that demand for properties usually in high demand from first-and second-time buyers, who are typically more mortgage-dependent, rose by less.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove's director of property science, said, "Despite the current optimism, these are not the conditions to support substantial price growth."

"Sellers who are keen to secure their sale will still need to price realistically for their local market and avoid being over-ambitious," he added.