Rightmove - UK Housing Market Insulated From Global Financial Jitters

LONDON, August 15, 2011 -

The Rightmove House Price Index for August 2011 is released today and reveals that the average asking price for a property in the UK dropped -2.1% over the past month to now stand at £231,543.

As we approach the fourth anniversary of the demise of Northern Rock, formerly the UK’s fifth biggest mortgage lender, the country’s housing market remains in limbo as the renewed crisis in the world’s financial markets puts any thoughts of a recovery on hold. August’s 2.1% fall in new sellers’ average asking prices leaves prices almost identical to those of a year ago (-0.3%) and not much different to four years ago (-4.1%).

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove comments: “While the world’s financial jitters are now playing havoc with stock markets and our future pensions, there are bound to be concerns about the impact on assets held as bricks and mortar. While the repeated shocks to the financial system have severely limited transaction numbers compared to pre-credit-crunch levels, the last four years have seen them stabilise, with an uneasy balance developing between those that have a pressing need to sell and those that have a good reason and the capability to buy. Sellers’ initial asking price aspirations have remained remarkably stable, and in spite of the continuing global economic unrest, the UK housing market has several unique factors that should help to insulate it from downside risks”.

This month, new sellers’ average asking prices have dropped by 2.1%, following the post-credit-crunch pattern of falls in August that has remained consistent since 2008. However, although this is the fourth year of economic uncertainty, the average price at which new sellers market their properties remains in the same ball-park when compared to both last year and the onset of the credit crunch in August 2007. These figures show that the country has avoided the downward spiral of widespread price slashing that has been a common feature of the property downturn in many other countries with similarly highly geared housing markets. While local conditions vary, overall the upside factors that are unique to the UK mainland look set to continue the awkward but stable status quo.

Shipside adds: “We’re in a ‘limbo-land’, where a restricted number of motivated sellers are trying to match themselves up with the similarly restricted number of financially capable buyers.”

For further statistics and to download the Rightmove August 2011 House Price Index please visit - www.rightmove.co.uk/news/house-price-index or search for local house prices at

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

Rightmove Press Office, press@rightmove.co.uk, +44(0)207-087-0700

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