Spring Market Trends: Key Stats on What’s Rising and Falling

Spring Market Trends: Key Stats on What’s Rising and Falling

The property market is one we like to measure in figures – pound, percentages, ratios and rates. Viewber has analysed the latest reports, read the rental figures and studied the house price indexes to bring you a snapshot of the current sales and lettings market.

What’s going up?

• Number of new homes coming to market: the two leading property portals act as a great barometer for home moving sentiment and their house price indexes cover a myriad of metrics, not just average asking price. Both Rightmove and Zoopla have found the number of homes for sale is improving. Zoopla says there are now 11% more available properties for buyers when compared to a year ago. Rightmove concurs, saying the number of new sellers coming to market is 13% ahead of where we were in 2024 – reaching a 10-year high
• Number of sales agreed: both portals have seen a healthy increase in the number of transactions where a sale had been agreed. Zoopla found the volume of sales agreed is 10% up year-on-year. Rightmove was more bullish, putting this figure at 15%
• Average house price: if you are waiting for house prices to stabilise or even fall, you may continue to wait. Several house price reports have shown values continue to creep up. Zoopla has the UK’s current average house price at £267,200 – a 1.9% year-on-year increase. The Nationwide’s latest reports say the average house price is £299,138 – an annual increase of 3%. The Office for National Statistics released its own data, reporting a 6% annual increase and a new average house price of £280,000. Looking ahead, West One Loans says the average house price could break the £300,000 barrier in 2025 and end up at £303,913
• Price gap between flats and houses: one of the more interesting metrics at Zoopla is the difference in value between flats and houses. The portal found the price gap has gone up drastically and sits at a 30-year high. As a result, houses are now worth nearly twice the price of flats. Interestingly, Zoopla also found mortgage repayments on a flat are currently 43% lower than rental costs
• Mortgage approvals: it appears borrowers have resigned themselves to higher mortgage rates and are biting the bullet when it comes to home loans. Analysis of Bank of England data carried out by mortgage broker Alexander Hall found the trend is upwards. There was a 30.8% increase in mortgage approvals when comparing lending figures in 2024 with 2023. The broker estimates we could see 856,346 mortgage approvals during 2025, which would represent a 13.4% increase on last year
• Rental yields: landlords should park any thoughts about rental reforms and concentrate on yields. Landlords are currently enjoying the best yields since February 2011. The research, carried out by Paragon Bank, found the average yield in December 2024 was 6.93%. Yields were best in Wales (8.09%), the North West (7.84%) and the South West (7.75%). HMOs (8.40%) and freehold blocks (7.28%) were the best yielding property types
• Stamp duty: more affordable stamp duty bills are almost a thing of the past. New rates will become effective from 1^st April 2025. The £125,000 to £250,000 bracket is being reintroduced, attracting a 2% tax rate. Those buying an onward property for £295,000 will pay £2,500 more in stamp duty tax more from 1^st First-time buyers will also pay more tax, with only property purchases worth less than £300,000 incurring a zero-stamp duty bill – a figure that is reducing from £425,000
• Number of property millionaires: over the last five years, Savills has charted a 34% increase in the number of homes valued at £1 million or more across Great Britain. In the last year alone, 3,127 extra people became the owner of a £1m-plus property. The agent claims 1 in every 42 homes in Great Britain is valued at more than £1 million

What’s going down?

• The bank rate: unless you’re a saver, the Bank of England’s February decision will have been good news. The Monetary Policy Committee decided to reduce the bank rate (also known as the base rate or just the interest rate) to 4.5%. There had been speculation around a another cut in the coming months (two of the Bank’s committee wanted a more drastic reduction to 4.25%) but a surprise increase in inflation to 3% may have kicked further rate reductions down the road
• Sales fall-through rates: TwentyEA data analysed by Chris Watkins for Property Industry Eye found the number of sales falling through has decreased slightly. Sales fall throughs at week ending 9^th February 2025 were 23.7%. This decreased to 22.2% at the week ending 16^th February 2025. For comparison, the 7-year sales fall-through average is 24.2%
• Rental values: after months of often double-digit rises, the trend for lower rents is setting in. HomeLet provided a fascinating market snapshot, looking at the value of newly agreed tenancies. Its latest rental index revealed newly agreed rents dropped by 1% in January 2025. Although this sounds like good news for tenants, the reality is the average rent became just £13 a month cheaper. Rents are dropping fastest in London, followed by Scotland and Yorkshire & Humberside
• Let’s agreed & stock levels in Prime London: rental values were not the only lettings figure to dip recently. When LonRes crunched its numbers in January 2025, it found an annual 9.8%. decrease in prime London lets agreed. In addition, it found a 27.5% year-on-year fall in the number of new instructions and 21% fewer homes on the market across the capital’s most prestigious areas

If you would like to spend more time keeping up with the industry’s critical metrics and less time visiting properties, please contact Viewber for viewing, inspection or marketing pack assistance.