Press Round Up February 2025

Mon 24 Mar 2025

The average house price hit a record high of £299,138 in January, according to Halifax. Jeremy Leaf, principal of Jeremy Leaf & Co, told City AM: “On the ground, recent price resilience has been just as much to do with higher demand as much as insufficient and appropriate stock in more popular areas.”

Property portal Rightmove also found that asking prices have risen again by an average of £1,805 in the past month. Jeremy Leaf told Mail Online: “Asking prices are not values but reflect seller aspirations at the start of the process. Although the start of the year saw the highest jump in prices and listings since 2020 and 2015 respectively, even with ongoing affordability concerns, this was always unlikely to continue at the same pace as we near the end of the stamp duty concession."

The most recent house price index from the Office for National Statistics confused a few people as it reported the average house price was £268,000 compared to £290,000 the previous month, while at the same time prices rose 4.6 per cent annually. It explained that it was simply a recalculation of the way it assesses house prices. Jeremy Leaf told This is Money: “This survey is the most comprehensive of all the market house-price indices, covering not just mortgaged properties but the 40 per cent or so of transactions which are arranged without finance. It may be a little dated but shows the housing market was considerably resilient at the end of last year. This is despite buyers and sellers coming to terms with the market realities of slower-than-previously-expected falls in borrowing costs. Looking forward, we are not seeing or likely to see any great changes in pricing or renegotiation but with inflation edging upwards, the further rate cuts which would greatly assist activity and buyer and seller confidence may be delayed for now.”

Meanwhile, Nationwide building society also found that house prices rose for the sixth month in a row, by 0.4 per cent in February. Jeremy Leaf told The Standard: “We have noticed in our offices a rush of first-time buyers in particular, trying to take advantage of lower stamp duty rates, which has skewed some parts of the market.” He explained further in The Mirror: "Now is it almost too late to benefit from the concession, we are seeing prices settle and more balance between supply and demand. However, a shortage of houses, not flats, in some price ranges remains, which is continuing to drive interest and helping to maintain activity.”

A property purchase can often turn out to take much longer than one might expect, but there are ways to help things along. Jeremy Leaf told The Telegraph: “In the race to try and reduce costs, more buyers are engaging white-label [legal] firms outside the area of their purchase. However, they end up paying the price later. Trying to keep costs down can be a false economy, can slow things up – and can compromise the sale."

An increasing number of homeowners are having to secure retrospective planning permission. Jeremy Leaf told The Sunday Times: “This issue may be arising more often because there is better awareness of the rules, better enforcement and a clearer understanding of what needs to be disclosed. Also, buyers are having more in-depth surveys because the cost of moving is so high. Abortive costs further down the line can be hard to bear, so they want to establish from the start exactly what they are dealing with.”