"We’ve seen consistently positive growth with respect to overall house prices across all three quarters of this year so far and this is despite the fact that buyers are still having to contend with significantly higher interest rates than they’ve become accustomed to in recent years."
- Marc von Grundherr - Benham and Reeves
The latest Property Market Index Review by London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed that house prices climbed by 0.9% in Q3 of this year, marking a third consecutive quarter of growth across the UK property market.
The Benham and Reeves Property Market Index Review is a quarterly accumulation of house price data from the top four existing indices, providing a comprehensive view of UK and London house price performance.
It looks at where the average house price sits overall when taking into account mortgage-approved house prices from Halifax and Nationwide, seller expectations via the Rightmove House Price Index, and sold prices from the UK House Price Index.
It also highlights how the market is evolving based on the gap between mortgage-approved prices and asking prices, as well as asking prices and sold prices.
Current property values
Based on a geometric mean of all four existing data sets, the index from Benham and Reeves shows the average UK house price sat at £311,154 during Q3 2024.
This marked a 0.9% quarterly increase, the third consecutive quarter of positive growth seen so far this year. On an annual basis, the average UK house price also sat 2.2% higher when compared to Q3 2023.
In London, the current average house price in Q3 2023 was £574,254 during the third quarter of this year. Whilst this remained flat versus Q2, it did mark a 1.1% increase on an annual basis.
Market Gap Between Mortgage Approval Price (Buyers) & Asking Price (Sellers)
In Q3 2024, the market gap between the average mortgage approved price of a buyer (£278,890) and the asking price expectation of a seller (£370,672) sat at 32.9%.
This market gap had narrowed from 35.5% the previous quarter, suggesting that sellers have been more willing to lower their asking price expectations in order to secure a buyer.
In London, the gap between buyer (£524,685) and seller (£684,210) was 30.4% which also marks a quarterly narrowing, again suggesting that London sellers are more willing to meet in the middle in order to secure a buyer.
Market Gap Between Asking Price (Sellers) & Sold Price (Buyers)
The latest index by Benham and Reeves shows that the gap between the average UK asking price and the average sold price has continued to close.
Across the UK, the average sold price in Q3, 2024 stood at £291,411, -21.4% below the average asking price of £370,672. This market gap had closed from 24.1% the previous quarter and remains slimmer when compared to the 23.5% seen during Q1.
In London, the gap between the asking price and the sold price sits at -22.9%, having also closed from -25.7% in Q2 and, again, remaining slimmer than the -25% seen during Q1. In fact, it’s the smallest gap between the asking and sold prices seen since Q1 2023.
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented: “2024 has been a far more positive year for the property market and this is becoming abundantly clear when analysing house price trends across each segment of the market.
"We’ve seen consistently positive growth with respect to overall house prices across all three quarters of this year so far and this is despite the fact that buyers are still having to contend with significantly higher interest rates than they’ve become accustomed to in recent years.
"What is clear is that sellers are taking a more pragmatic approach to selling, with the gap between the mortgage approved price of buyers and the asking price expectation of sellers narrowing. As a result, we haven’t seen the previous stalemate across the market whereby sellers refuse to budge on price, whilst buyers simply can’t afford to match them.
"The result of both parties meeting in the middle has been an uptick in sales, a higher proportion of asking price achieved and a more measured, healthy rate of house price growth seen across the market.”
