UK Home Asking Prices Now At All-Time High

Asking prices for homes being put on the market have reached an all-time high, breaking a 2008 record, according to new survey.

With a rise of 0.5%, the national average asking price is now £243,737 - compared with the last peak in May 2008 at the start of the recession - according to the Rightmove House Price Index .

The number of properties for sale increased by 8.1% outside ofLondon but overall supply is still down 30% compared with April 2007.

This, and the more active spring market, are buoying up seller confidence, Rightmove said.

UK Home Asking Prices Now At All-Time High

The South West , where supply is down 5.5% on last year, is seeing a record-breaking average asking price of £270,735, while the South East and East Anglia are just £810 and £2,489 off their previous peaks.

In London, the average asking price, at nearly £500,000, is at a historic high, as sellers in the capital drag their heels in bringing fresh property to the market.

Director of Rightmove Miles Shipside said: "Asking price records are being set in the fresh-stock-starved London and South West regions, and agents report this is also the case in markets in other regions.

"Doing research in your area is essential to gauge what type of property is in demand, how quickly it is selling and how close to the asking price is being achieved."

The results conceal the drop in asking prices in the ailing regions of Wales, the North West and Yorkshire and Humberside over the last year, with falls of 1.5%, 1.2% and 0.2% respectively.

Mr Shipside said: "If only taken at face value, national averages can mask varying degrees of volatility at a regional level.

"The richest seams of housing market activity are concentrated around those with access to cash and finance, with a strong bias to the South and London in particular."

The survey warns that the counter-effect of inflation has eroded real term values.

It said: "If prices had kept pace with inflation (as measured by the retail prices index ) since May 2008 then they would now stand at £270,459, so they have fallen by 9.9% in real terms.

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