"While a reduction in buyer demand certainly led to cooler conditions than we have seen in previous years, the result was a largely static market, not one in free fall"
- Verona Frankish - Yopa
Despite numerous industry predictions that a property market crash was on the horizon, Yopa's analysis shows that house prices stood firm in 2023 and, in some areas, climbed by as much as 11%. Here are the house price winners and losers of the last year.
Yopa analysed UK House Price Index data at local authority level, released just last week, to reveal which areas of the property market have stuttered, and which have gone from strength to strength.
The latest index, and the last of 2023, provides the first concrete view of house price performance throughout the year - a year that many predicted would see house prices plummet.
House prices static in 2023
The data shows that between January and December 2023, the average national price remained largely static with a slight decline of -0.3%. While this is far from a strong performance, it’s a million miles away from the doomsday scenarios predicted by some.
Regional price performance
On a regional level, 2023 price performance shows an even split between growth and decline with six regions seeing prices rise and six seeing them fall.
Scotland achieved the best performance with the average house price increasing by 4.2% between January and December 2023.
Northern Ireland recorded growth of 3.4%, while the North West (3.2%), West Midlands (1.5%), Yorkshire & Humber (1.3%), and East Midlands (0.6%) also saw prices go up.
The regions to see prices decline were Wales (-0.2%), the North East (-0.9%), South West (-1.5%), East of England (-2.5%), South East (-3.9%), and London (-5.2%).
With the most dramatic price drop in the country, the capital saw almost -£27,000 wiped off the average house price which ended the year at £508,037.
Worst performing areas of the nation
On a local authority level, London’s struggles result in the region representing the four very worst performing areas for 2023 house prices performance.
The City of Westminster saw the nation’s biggest decline of -20.9%, followed by the boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea (-17.4%), the City of London (-16.7%), and Hammersmith & Fulham (-13.3%).
The rest of the nation’s top ten worst-performing areas were found outside of London, but remained in the south of England.
Gosport in Hampshire saw prices fall by -12.9% between January and December 2023, followed by Runnymede (-11.3%), Torridge (-9.8%), Welwyn Hatfield (-9.3%), Thanet (-9.2%), and the Forest of Dean (-8.7%).
Best performing areas of the nation
But, as is always the case with the UK’s housing market, not every area of the market struggled in 2023, with some posting impressive house price performances.
The best performance came in West Lancashire where values increased by 10.7%, while South Hams and East Renfrewshire both recorded growth of 10.1%.
Completing the ten best-performing areas for 2023 are Rossendale (10%), Winchester (9.5%), Derry City & Strabane (8%), Mole Valley (7.5%), Cumberland (7.3%), East Lothian (7.3%), and Midlothian (7.2%).
CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, commented: “In 2023, the UK housing market was predicted by many to endure dramatic price drops as the nation continued to endure the cost of living crisis, made all the worse with an increased cost of borrowing.
"But while a reduction in buyer demand certainly led to cooler conditions than we have seen in previous years, the result was a largely static market, not one in free fall.
"Furthermore, we see once again that diagnosing market health with the broad stroke of national averages fails to tell the whole story. Our nation is made of hundreds of local markets, and within many of them, prices have soared.”
