Spring market: more choice for buyers as prices steady

A window of choice for buyers

The average asking price of a home coming to market rose 1.2% in May to £378,304, according to Rightmove, yet it sits 0.3% lower than a year ago. The bigger story is supply. There are more homes for sale at this point in the year than at any time since 2015, and around a third of listings have already had their asking price cut.

That hands buyers the upper hand, and it cuts both ways for sellers. Rightmove found that a correctly priced home takes about 36 days to find a buyer, against 127 days for one that has to drop its price. So the sellers who price realistically from the outset tend to move much faster.

Why the headline numbers disagree

You’ll see several different “average” house prices this month, and they don’t match. Rightmove’s £378,304 is the average asking price of newly listed homes. Halifax (£299,313 in April, down 0.1% on the month but up 0.4% on the year) and Nationwide (£278,024 in May, up 1.7% on the year but down 0.6% on the month) each draw on their own mortgage-approval data, which is mix-adjusted (weighted so a month heavy on cheaper or pricier sales doesn’t skew the average), so their figures come out lower.

The official ONS index, based on completed sales and so lagging by about two months, put the average UK home at £268,000 in March, broadly flat on the year. London prices fell for an eighth month while Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland edged up. None of these is “wrong”. They measure different stages of the journey, from listing to mortgage approval to completion. Read together, they point the same way: a steady market with more to choose from.

Rates and demand

Demand is holding up better than the spring’s rate turbulence might suggest. Sales agreed are only about 4% below the same point last year, and mortgage approvals have reached a four-month high. The Bank of England has held base rate at 3.75%, and Rightmove’s own mortgage tracker shows the average two-year fixed rate easing to 5.18% from 5.42% the previous month as lenders compete again.

Beneath the averages, lenders are pulling in different directions: some trim rates one week, others nudge them up the next. For a buyer, steadier rates and more homes to choose from make a helpful combination, and you can sense-check what a move might cost with the repayment calculator before you start viewing.

Making the most of the window

With more homes on the market and less competition to contend with, a prepared buyer is in a strong position this spring, whether you are moving up the ladder or buying your first home.