Property asking prices hit another record high - but it's still a buyer's market
Property asking prices have hit another record high, according to Rightmove.
The asking prices of newly-listed homes went up by £2,335 (0.6 per cent) in May to hit £379,517, Britain's biggest property portal revealed.
Despite reaching a record high, May's price increase is the lowest at this time of year since 2016, reflecting a more subdued spring market.
This, Rightmove, said, is because the number of homes on the market has risen to levels not seen in a decade.
More homes on the market means sellers are in competition to find a buyer for their property, which can keep prices in check.
There has been a 32 per cent increase in the number of sellers who have changed estate agents after struggling to snag a buyer, according to Rightmove's data.
This reflects the high market competition, and the frustration of some owners that their homes aren't selling.
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said: 'The ten-year high choice of homes for sale means that sellers need to be aware of the level of competition they're facing for the attention of buyers, and the prices that are being advertised in their location.
'In the current market, buyers may well have several similar homes to choose from in their area, and a home which appears over-priced compared to the competition may not get a second look.
'This month's price increase being the lowest in May for nine years is a sign of a market that favours buyers and is more subdued than usual.'
What next for house prices?
Looking ahead, mortgage rates will be crucial in determining the level of buyer activity for the rest of the year.
They have been trickling downwards, and there is hope that the recent interest rate cut by the Bank of England, the second of the year, may spur on further reductions from lenders.
The cheapest available two-year fixed mortgage rate is now 3.72 per cent, down from 4.75 per cent last year.
On a £200,000 mortgage being repaid over 25 years, that's the difference between paying £1,025 a month and £1,140 a month.
Average earnings have also been going up and are now over 5 per cent ahead of this time last year, outpacing annual house price growth which is now at only 1.2 per cent.
Some buyers may also find they are able to borrow now than they were at the start of the year.
A number of major mortgage lenders have been relaxing their affordability rules helping buyers to borrow more.
Last week, Nationwide Building Society adjusted its 'stress rates' - the hypothetical higher mortgage rates it tests borrowers' finances against when they apply for a mortgage or remortgage.
Lenders do this to check whether borrowers could still afford their monthly payments if their mortgage rate increased.
Nationwide reduced its stress rates by between 0.75 and 1.25 percentage points, meaning the average borrower could be loaned £28,000 more.
Tomer Aboody, director of specialist lender MT Finance, said: 'As interest rates reduce, we should see affordability increase which in turn will encourage buyers to be active.
This should produce a more buoyant market with higher transaction levels.
'In the meantime, buyers and sellers may well take stock of the current economic climate and wait and see before making their move.
'If there is another rate reduction in the latter half of the year, we could see a big rush in activity in the final quarter.'
Estate agent Knight Frank recently revised its forecasts for house price growth this year.
It now predicts that house prices will rise by 3.5 per cent over the course of 2025, up from 2.5 per cent previously.
The change was made because of how much the interest rate outlook has improved.
Markets now expect interest rates of about 3.5 per cent this time next year, which compares to an estimate of more than 4.25 per cent in early January.
Even so, Knight Frank says that it remains firmly a buyer's market.
'Buyers are able to take their time at the moment because they have so much to choose from,' said Andrew Groocock, chief operating officer at Knight Frank.
'That sort of competition means sellers need to get the asking price right when the property is first launched.
'Even after a reduction, the risk is that a property has already become stale in the minds of buyers, which means it can then take longer to sell or the chances of it falling through are higher.'
Best mortgage rates and how to find them
Mortgage rates have risen substantially over recent years, meaning that those remortgaging or buying a home face higher costs.
That makes it even more important to search out the best possible rate for you and get good mortgage advice.
Quick mortgage finder links with This is Money's partner L&C
> Mortgage rates calculator
> Find the right mortgage for you
To help our readers find the best mortgage, This is Money has partnered with the UK's leading fee-free broker L&C.
This is Money and L&C's mortgage calculator can let you compare deals to see which ones suit your home's value and level of deposit.
You can compare fixed rate lengths, from two-year fixes, to five-year fixes and ten-year fixes.
If you're ready to find your next mortgage, why not use This is Money and L&C's online Mortgage Finder. It will search 1,000's of deals from more than 90 different lenders to discover the best deal for you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
14 minutes ago
- Times
Plea to Starmer over ‘devastating' cost of employment rights bill
Businesses keeping Britain's hospitals, train stations, airports, offices, warehouses and factories clean, maintained and secure have warned the prime minister of the 'devastating impact' of the government's employment rights bill. In an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner and the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, the 128 companies — including the sector leaders OCS Group, Churchill Group and Mitie — urged the government to rethink its plans. The letter highlighted what its authors believe will be the 'serious unintended consequences' from the large-scale changes to employment law proposed by the legislation, which is passing through parliament. The reforms include making protection from unfair dismissal a right from the first day of employment, increased union representation and more generous sick pay, which has to be paid for by businesses. • Workers' bill 'won't work unless tribunal backlog is cleared' 'We are deeply concerned that some of the bill's provisions … could harm both good employers and the very employees that the bill seeks to protect,' the authors of the letter say. The additional costs or risks of hiring the wrong person for a role would 'force some employers to reduce staff headcount or reduce their hours, turn down new contracts, or even exit the market altogether,' they added. Dominic Ponniah, chief executive of the office and commercial cleaning company Cleanology and a co-author of the letter, said concerns had been building about the negative impact of the legislation for some months, but they had come to a head once facilities management firms had seen the impact on their operating costs of April's rise in employers' national insurance to 15 per cent. 'Suddenly people are feeling that on their bottom lines and we need to make our voice heard,' he said. The 128 signatories of the letter also include Josie Marshall-Deane, regional director of OCS Group, whose services include passenger screening, surveillance and emergency response at airports, and Charlotte Parr, executive director of Churchill Group, which is majority-owned by 10,000 of its employees and works to maintain social housing for housing associations, among other services. The facilities management industry overall employs 1.4 million people and generates £60 billion for the economy, making it many times more important for economic growth than other more favoured industries such as fashion and farming, the authors note. It is dominated by thousands of small and medium-sized companies, typically operating on tight profit margins. They said the changes to employment law 'risk penalising the good companies while doing little to deter the bad players'. The companies make clear their support for the government's efforts to tackle exploitative labour practices and establish fair treatment of agency workers. The government is phasing in the introduction of the new rights, which it has calculated could add £5 billion in costs to the economy each year. Smaller companies will be hit disproportionately, it acknowledges. It has said most of the new rules would not take effect until next year. A Government spokesperson said: 'Insecurity and poor health at work aren't just bad for workers, they also impact productivity and drive down competitiveness in businesses and the wider economy. 'That's why through our transformative plan for change, this government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation, and our measures already have strong support amongst business and the public. 'We've consulted extensively with business on our proposals, and we will engage on the implementation of legislation to ensure it works for employers and puts money back into the pockets of working people.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
H&M systems are down in the UK
By Customers at H&M stores across the UK have been unable to purchase products for several hours today, following an apparent failure in the company's payments system. A worker at one store in London told MailOnline that their location had been unable sell items for around two hours. It is not currently known if online customers have been affected by the issue, and the cause of the outage has not yet been revealed. A spokesperson for H&M told MailOnline: 'We are aware of the problem and are looking into resolving it as quickly as possible. 'We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience.' The incident comes after British retail institutions like M&S and Co-op were hit with severe cyber attacks that crippled them. In late April, Co-op was forced to shut down parts of its IT systems after hackers tried to illegally access them, and that it only had a 'small impact' on its operations. The firm later admitted that despite this, hackers 'accessed data relating to a significant number of our current and past members. Meanwhile, M&S stores up and down the country were left with empty shelves after it faced an Easter weekend cyber attack. The company admitted that personal information of customers, which could include telephone numbers, home addresses and dates of birth, were taken. M&S said that the data thieves did not take usable payment or card information from their servers. Luxury jewelry firm Cartier and outdoor retailer The North Face then became the latest retailers to report customer data being stolen in cyber attacks . Watchmaker Cartier told customers in an email that 'an unauthorised party gained temporary access' to its system and 'obtained limited client information'. The firm - whose items have been worn by Taylor Swift , Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama - revealed names, email addresses and countries had been obtained. But Cartier, which is owned by Swiss-based Richemont, said the 'affected information did not include any passwords, credit card details or other banking information'. The company said it further enhanced the protection of its systems and data, told the relevant authorities and was working with 'leading external cyber security experts'. Separately, fashion brand The North Face, owned by VF Corporation, emailed some of its customers to tell them it discovered a 'small scale' attack in April this year. The brand said names and email addresses were taken, but financial details were not - with the company revealing hackers used 'credential stuffing', reported BBC News. This involves trying usernames and passwords stolen from another data breach in the hope customers have reused the credentials across multiple accounts. North Face said attackers may have got hold of some customers' postal addresses and purchase histories. A North Face spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'The cyber incident you are referring to is a small-scale cyber incident occurred on April 23, 2025, affecting our The North Face e-commerce website in the US only. 'The incident was contained very quickly on the same day it occurred. There was no impact on our systems and/or our consumer data in Europe whatsoever, including in the UK.' Cyber security expert Julius Cerniauskas, chief executive of web intelligence firm Oxylabs, told MailOnline that the latest breaches 'send a clear message that no brand is safe from cybercrime, not even the biggest names with the deepest pockets'. He added: 'Attackers are becoming more opportunistic and sophisticated, targeting brands that hold valuable customer data, not just credit card numbers. 'In the case of The North Face, credential stuffing shows how recycled passwords from past breaches continue to fuel new attacks. 'Cartier's incident demonstrates how even well-defended systems can be compromised. Whether it's luxury retail or everyday consumer brands, hackers are finding weak spots and exploiting them fast.' Mr Cerniauskas urged retailers to 'respond with more than apologies', encouraging them to enforce multi-factor authentication, tighten access controls and constantly monitor for threats. Speaking further about 'credential stuffing', Joe Jones, chief executive and founder of Pistachio, a cybersecurity attack simulation company, said consumers reusing passwords across multiple sites were a 'sitting duck' for breaches of this type. He told MailOnline: 'Credential stuffing, the method used here, only works because people reuse the same login details. 'If you've been caught in this breach, change your passwords immediately - especially if they match accounts like email or banking. 'Enable app-based two-factor authentication, not SMS, and remain hyper alert to scam emails, texts or even fake calls.'
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
In praise of Michael O'Leary
NatWest has returned to full private-sector ownership 17 years after the £46 billion bailout that took it into state hands – and five years after the name swap which reduced the once globally trumpeted Royal Bank of Scotland to a humble north-of-the-border branch network, while promoting its English subsidiary NatWest to become the parent brand. RBS shareholders who were almost wiped out but hung on to what are now NatWest certificates have seen their shares triple in value since 2023, finally surpassing the bailout price. HM Treasury took a £10.5 billion loss on the whole rescue exercise, which required a decade-long series of placements and buybacks to filter the taxpayers' 84 per cent holding back into the market as the bank's performance gradually recovered. But few would argue it was badly managed or wrong in the first place. Fred Goodwin's RBS, crippled by his hubristic bid for the Dutch group ABN Amro on top of a balance-sheet full of toxic debt, fully deserved to fail. But its customers did not deserve to lose their deposits and livelihoods, and when chancellor Alistair Darling received a call from Goodwin's chairman Sir Tom McKillop on 7 October 2008 telling him RBS would fail the next day, Darling had to set aside any consideration of moral hazard and step in: chaos would have ensued if he hadn't. The workaday NatWest – which never had a coherent strategy for the era of globalised banking that died with that phone call – has survived, despite a continuing tide of branch closures, as a relatively trusted high-street brand. I'm pleased to see chairman Rick Haythornthwaite talking about a 'simpler, safer' bank with a 'UK-focused business model'.
