April 2024: UK House Price Index

With the significant drop in difference between January and February’s asking price versus actual sale price, this month’s numbers have been hotly anticipated by homebuyers and homeowners nationally.

Doubling from a -5.4% difference to a -10.4% difference last month sent some concerns through the market and with news of another hike in asking prices from Rightmove, has the trend continued?

Let’s look at the latest numbers for the UK housing market.

Overall House Price Index

With a close to record average asking price this month, we can see a rise of 2.5% from last month’s national average.

Along with this rise the gap between asking price and actual sale price has also risen in tandem. Rising from -10.4% to -11.7% this month may add concerns. However, if we look deeper, we can see that this rise is just under half of what would be expected based on the asking price rise.

This should be seen as positive news for homeowners as the rate of asking price has risen twice as much as the gap to actual sale prices.

Month	Avg Asking Price	Avg Sale Price	Difference
	£372,324		-11.7%
	£362,839		-10.4%

With an overall rise of 1.6% in average selling prices, the UK housing market continues to grow despite face value concerns.

Whilst asking prices continue to far exceed actual sale prices, their expected value is certainly gaining momentum.

Detached homes this month have seen the biggest decrease in average value despite gaining 1.7% of the market share of sold properties this month.

This might be a correction in the market or perhaps a ceiling has been reached. With a similar story for last month’s house price index, next month should give us more insight into why the average price continues to drop.

Knowing the detached average price drop, it was a welcomed increase seen for semi-detached properties.

We saw a 4% drop last month, that deficit has had a large part clawed back with a 3.2% increase this month.

Whilst that still leaves a 0.8% shortfall, it is certainly something semi-detached homeowners will be happy to see and hopefully a similar rise next month will complete recovery for the losses.

Terraced homes were the property type to see the most stable figures for the month. With the average market share almost identical to last month, the volume of these home sales has stayed quite consistent over the last two months.

The average sale price saw a very small drop of 0.9% which in the grand scheme of things can be simply put down to variance.

Apartment sales were the real story for April’s housing price index. Their volume of sales may have dropped by 0.3% but their value saw a spike of over 4% for the month.

This has helped to booster the overall average sale price of property for April and potentially point to the supply and demand of apartments across the UK.

Month	Avg Sale Price	Change
		–

Biggest House Price Index Increase

Month	Avg Sale Price	Change
		–

Windsor and Maidenhead were the keynote from this month’s housing price index and saw a huge increase of 63.86% on average sale prices from last month.

Situated in Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead is notoriously an affluent area and with an average property price of £827,250 this month, it is easy to see why.

Last month’s average sale price of £504,856 was already a hefty sum to demand but with this further increase, property in and around the area is certainly in high demand.

Detached homes in the area make up the bulk of the jump despite nationally taking a dip in value.

With a jump of over 30% in volume sold and an increase in nearly 50% on the asking price, detached homes are almost single handedly responsible for the positives for the entire month.

Semi-detached homes in the area saw their market share significantly drop inline with the increase of detached homes above. Whilst that may be the case, their value also rocketed as large property purchases were made this month.

Increasing from £510,085 in February to £757,500 in March, a whopping 48.5%, semi-detached homes saw a similar increase to detached homes.

This huge jump certainly pushes the area up in the price ranks list and cements Berkshire as a hotly demanded area.

Terraced sales for the area saw the most stable trend for April with no significant changes outside of losing market share to detached homes above.

Average terraced home sale prices in Windsor and Maidenhead grew by £2,833 from £418,000 to £420,833.

Whilst the change was small it does further attribute to the great increase seen in the area over the month and will be welcomed news to homeowners whilst potentially scaring off homebuyers.

Even with all the positive news above, apartments in and around Windsor and Maidenhead also joined suit.

Again, their market share dropped as detached homes dominated but they found a way to rally on average sale prices boosting 23.8% to a huge £505,000.

Lowest House Price Index Increase

Month	Avg Sale Price	Value Change
		–

Bexley in London have found their way into being the most stable area for the month of March.

With an overall average sale price increase of 0.07%, the property in the area has stayed very consistent since last month.

Whilst an average sale price of £366,417 in this month’s house price index may seem excessive in comparison to other areas in the UK, it is certainly not the cheapest but claims the most stable.

Detached homes in the area can be scarce so it is no surprise that last month saw no sales of this property type.

This month, however, they claimed 8.3% of all sales in the area and for an area in London: an average price of £420,000 is very reasonable.

Semi-detached homes also saw an increase this month with the average sale price fetching £505,000.

This increase of 4.27% exceeds the national average and demand for this property type has increased significantly in the area.

Terraced sales / town houses were also the big story for Bexley. Their average value saw a jump of 14.3% from £385,000 to £440,000.

This is particularly interesting for Bexley since their volume sold stayed the same as last month at 25%. Great news for all terraced homeowners in the area.

It was apartment sales that let the area down though, their drop this month pulled the overall figures down to being stable but disappointing considering the information above.

With an increase of 1.7% in market share it is unexpectedly their average sale price that lacked.

A drop of 9% from £250,992 to £228,400 will panic homeowners and investors as the market shift in the area continues to skew towards houses as opposed to apartments/flats.

Biggest House Price Index Decrease

Month	Avg Sale Price	Change
		–

Swindon steps up to claim the worst category for the month and settles itself as the biggest house price decrease for April’s house price index.

A very concerning drop of 38.33% on average property price sales across the area will be particularly concerning for everyone involved.

Homebuyers and investors though may see this as a very good opportunity to grab some bargains. With it’s good links to London and now only demanding £241,810 for the average property, there are surely some deals to be had currently.

Detached homes were the key culprit for the lacklustre performance. Their market share dropped 36.9% to a potentially all time low of 10.3% of all sales in March 2024.

This wasn’t helped by a plummet of 23.9% in average value dropping down to £454,333.

Whilst still a hefty sum in comparison, it is somewhat a far cry from the £597,056 average price of just a month earlier.

Semi-detached homes did attempt a rally with their market share picking up to 27.6% as they commanded a £55,000 price increase to £295,188.

This 22.7% increase in average property price was welcomed and potentially saved Swindon as whole from a catastrophic month.

Terraced homes on the other hand were not so lucky. They increase their market share but had 9.3% wiped off their average sale price.

This only fuelled the fire that detached homes seemed to have started.

Apartments were in a similar vein to terraced property, albeit not quite as extensive.

They saw an average property price drop of -4.65% despite increasing their market share by 8.3%.

This was the final nail in the coffin and firmly put Swindon as the biggest loser for the April house price index for the month.

Lowest House Price Index Decrease

Month	Avg Sale Price	Change
		–

Warrington much like Bexley above were the stable choice for the month despite its small loss overall.

With the average sale price seeing a negligible loss of -0.07%, the stability will be welcomed by homeowners and investors who have interests in the area.

Detached property sales were the biggest winner in the area despite seeing a drop down to 7.7% of all sales made in March 2024.

Their average value rose by 79% from £355,000 all the way up to a lofty £635,000.

Semi-detached properties were the most stable in the are for this month with their market share staying at a consistent 38.5% of all sales made.

With this stability in volume their average price also maintained itself somewhat. With a drop of -2.9% from £273,773 down to £265,816 – this would be seen as acceptable variance based on historical data for the area.

Terraced sales were in fact the biggest contributor to any positive news for Warrington in general.

Their total share of properties sold in the area rocketed to 34.6% from a low 19.9% in February which is a welcomed boost to owners.

Their average value also saw a very healthy increase of 26% pushing their price up to a very healthy £199,698.

Apartment sale on the other hand were the biggest loser.

With a drop in volume of an acceptable 9.4%, many would have hoped that this property type would have at least held it’s average value for this month’s house price index.

Sadly, for homeowners, this wasn’t meant to be. The average price for the month dropped a huge 45.8% down to a very affordable £100,800.

Great news for investors and homebuyers looking at the area – potential despair for landlords and homeowners.