According to experts, the property market continued to see robust and a consistent level of activity throughout most of 2022, with the latest sold price data from the Land Registry showing that house prices currently remain 9.5 percent higher than they were last year. However, the latest house price index from Halifax has unveiled that house prices fell by 2.3 percent between November and December showing the “first signs” that the market is starting to cool.
Marc von Grundherr, Director of London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, commented: “A further increase to interest rates will certainly spur a continued cooling in current property values but it’s extremely unlikely we will see the deep freeze that many may lead us to believe.
“At most, we can expect a five percent drop during the first six months of the year, at which point stability will return and house prices will start to level out.
“As for the rental market, we’ve seen values climb consistently higher over the last year and with a shortage of stock continuing to be a burning issue, we can expect the cost of renting to climb by a further 10 percent in 2023.”
While the focus is often on house prices, one expert said it is the transactions these prices are agreed on that fuel the furnace of the UK property market.
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James Forrester, Managing Director of Birmingham estate and lettings agent, Barrows and Forrester, said: “In 2021, we saw huge peaks of up to 165,000 homes sold per month and while this has subsided in 2022, we’ve