In the last quarter, house prices have increased across all regions. However, the annual rate of growth is still negative in Southern England, while the rest of the UK is displaying price increases. The highest growth in England has been observed in the North West, with a 1.5% annual rise.
Zoopla states that the housing market has shown resilience over the last year even when faced with very high mortgage rates, spiking well over 5% in October 2022 and again in summer 2023. Rather than sizable price falls, there has been a more noticeable decline in the number of sales, which went down 23% over 2023.
Sales levels are rising despite higher borrowing costs. 2024 still looks on track for 1.1 million sales by the end of the year, which is 10% higher than last year while still being below the 20-year average. According to Zoopla, this suggests renewed cautious confidence among buyers.
