The UK is seeing unprecedented house price growth that makes owning a home for a whole generation simply impossible. The UK heads for a generation of renters with London looking to join other cites like Berlin where renting, not owning a home is the norm.
According to Home.co.uk the total stock of property for sale remains historically very low despite an uptick in supply in London. Scarcity remains the key price driver. The acute supply shortage in the East of England is driving prices ever skyward (up 12.9% since May 2015) and this region is now outpacing London and the South East in terms of home appreciation. We anticipate that prices will soon reach their affordability limits (as happened in London) and price rises will be more subdued next year.
East of England prices leap 2.0% over the last month, indicating that the region’s property market is overheating.The total stock of property on the market edges up further but is still 10.6% less than in May last year.
Nick Marr of TheHouseShop.com
“House prices in the UK are depressing news for an entire generation trying to get on the property ladder, Campaigns such as those led by GenerationRent.org call for changes in legislation, strategies, policies and practices to make private housing a better sector. Every month price rises are reported it’s hard not to think about an entire generation that have zero hope of buying a home of their own.
London will become a city of renters, research from PwC indicate that we will have just 40pc of people owning their own home in 2025, This is a reversal of the situation in 2000, when 60pc of Londoners owned a house, either outright or with a mortgage”
The London Housing Market
Market activity in London is slower now than back in 2014 when fierce competition for limited supply was driving up prices at an unsustainable pace. However, the market still has significant momentum and sufficient demand remains to elicit more modest price rises. A notable increase in supply currently providing more choice for buyers and is attenuating price rises.
Meanwhile, the Welsh property market remains the slowest region despite an 11% fall in Typical Time on Market (currently 132 days (median)). Prices there have risen by just 1.9% over the last year.
Home.co.uk report that overall, the current mix-adjusted average asking price for England and Wales is now 7.5% higher than it was in May 2015, and they predict this upward trend will continue into 2017.