House Prices Record High

House Prices Record High.

Rightmove has published its latest house price index up to 9 April and found that the average property price in the UK has reached a record £307,033.

This is a rise of nearly 1.5% from March to April and many suggest that this was caused by increased activity within the "buy to let" stampede ahead of the 3% surcharge in Stamp Duty Land tax for buy to let properties that started in April.

In contrast, the smaller property and first-time buyer market stalled slightly with a decrease in prices by around the same margin.

Comment

Traditionally, it is the spring and summer that sees the majority of activity in the residential property market and from what we are reading many are expecting the same although we suspect that the EU referendum vote may store housing activity until there is unknown outcome.

That said, the population of the UK is still expanding and there is still a housing shortage. We expect property prices to rise by around 5% overall in 2016.