Today we launched our Property & Homemover Report: Q1 2018, the fourth edition in a quarterly series of reports featuring data and analysis for the whole of the UK property market.
This ‘state of the nation’ report provides unique insight into the people behind the numbers, creating a picture of the demographic, regional and socio-economic factors impacting the housing market.
The reliability of our report is testament to the strength of our comprehensive UK Homemover data, compiled from the most robust property change sources available – providing a real time review of the UK market and covering 96.6% of all property moves (both sales and rentals).
Topline Report Highlights
• Confidence is building. Nationally, property exchanges are up nearly 8% compared to Q1 2017,
suggesting a continued building of confidence, stability and momentum in the market. Following the
usual Q4 slowdown, Q1 has seen 100,000 more properties come on to the market.
• London is changing. Within inner London, asking prices are down 4% year on year, but the number of
exchanges is up 8% in the same period. Prices are probably subdued by the pathway to Brexit and the international makeup of the market.
• Smaller homes are on the rise. Over half of all exchanges in Q1 were made on terraced and semidetached houses, up 17% year on year. Nearly 1 in 5 exchanges were represented by a flat, up 10% year on year, reflecting the change in the composition of our housing stock, with flats dominating our large towns and cities.
year, with 46% more property exchanges in Q1 2018 compared to Q1 2017. The active growth in the
property market for the 55+ age groups is undoubtedly fuelled by a combination of pension drawdown
and equity retrieval as the baby boom generation accesses the wealth accumulated in their properties
and pensions.
house prices dropping by up to £6k for every mile you move further across the border. And all for less
than an hour’s commute.