Asking prices for properties new on the market have shot up this month.
Rightmove described the 2.8% rise, taking the average asking price from £229,429 in January to £235,741 this month, as ‘sprightly’.
It is the highest asking price set by new sellers in February since 2008, when the asking price was £237,856 – a record for the month, prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
In London, the average asking price has also soared, now standing at an all-time record £486,890. It surpasses the previous record set last November of £483,709.
London’s new record asking price is up from £480,890 last month, and an astonishing 8.4% up from the £449,252 recorded this time last year.
However, across the UK stock looks thin on the ground, with the average estate agency branch having 64 properties on the books, unchanged from the end of last year and, apart from December, lower than at any time in 2012.
Miles Shipside, director and housing market analyst at Rightmove, said: “There has been a sprightly start to 2013 and, while market activity remains patchy across locations and property type, some agents are reporting their busiest new year since the onset of the credit crunch.
“While encouraging, it’s far too early to pop the champagne corks as certain sectors will remain on ice until the return of wider-spread mortgage availability.”
Both Rightmove and Zoopla have been reporting record traffic to their sites in January, and Shipside said that pages viewed on Rightmove were up 20% year on year.
According to Rightmove, the largest single group of sellers this year will be older people who are downsizing.
The Rightmove asking price is way ahead of the ‘mortgage agreed’ prices quoted by Halifax and Nationwide, currently standing at £162,932 and £162,245 respectively.
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