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Land Registry house price data - January 2023

ended 22. March 2023

At 09:30, the Land Registry is publishing its January house price index. This story will be covered widely in local, national and trade media, so a few Qs:

  • Following the surprise rise in inflation last month announced this morning, and a rate hike arguably now more likely tomorrow, what effect could this have on the property market?
  • How has the property market fared in the first three months of 2023? More resilient than we all thought at the tail end of 2023? What are the main trends you're seeing?
  • Are sellers being more realistic on asking prices and, if so, is this keeping the market moving?
  • What are the main challenges facing the property market right now? Affordability, consumer confidence due to high inflation and an uncertain economy, rising rates, etc?

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Today's inflation figures are about as useful to the housing market as a chocolate teapot! All eyes are now on the size of any future base rate increases. If we can maintain some sense of stability until the summer, a sharp drop in inflation could restore confidence and provide the market with the needed stimulus. recent It's a shame the Budget acted as a frugal Santa, refusing to shower us with any delightful surprises.
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Editor
Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
The problem with the housing market at the moment is that buyers think it is 2008 and sellers think it is 2020. Both are wrong. This is not being helped by overzealous estate agents that still continually choose to over-value properties. The one thing that is needed to sort out this mess is for the government to step in and regulate the Estate Agent industry and make them answerable to many miss-selling techniques that many of them still practice.

I've seen more realism in a Nicolas Cage movie than some property valuations carried out by Estate Agents
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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
With the surprise jump in February's inflation figure, and swap rates edging upwards again, it's more likely now that the Bank of England will raise their base rate by at least 0.25 per cent. Any hike will put further upward pressure on mortgage rates, and downward pressure on house prices.

In mitigation, recent events in the banking sector could act as a forceful counterargument to the bank's decision.

The mortgage market is stable, but much slower than it was a year ago. Lenders are tightening their affordability calculations with the Coventry Building Society the latest to do so just this week. However, the improvement in mortgage rates since January is helping to boost demand.