House Prices Continue To Rise, Says Rightmove – And London Rents Are Up Too

UK property prices rose last month in all regions including London, according to the latest Rightmove house price index.

For London, the average cost of a property reached £650,683, up 1.9 per cent on August and 2.6 per cent on a year ago, the property portal’s figures reveal.

This compares to an average price across the UK of £344,445 – up 6.5 per cent on October last year, in spite of the stamp duty holiday ending. The increases included all types of purchasers, from first-timer buyers to those in the prime market.

Rightmove’s director of property data Tim Bannister put the rises down to supply, with too few properties coming to the market to meet levels of demand. He also cited a rush to buy ahead of a possible Bank of England interest rate rise.

“The stock shortages started after the first lockdown, and they look set to continue with the underlying housing market fundamentals remaining strong, and an additional incentive to buy and fix your mortgage interest rate before a widely expected rate rise”.

Tim Bannister – Director of property data ar Rightmove

For people looking to buy in the capital, boroughs including Islington and Camden recorded month-on-month and year-on-year price falls, according to the data. The average house price in Camden sits at £952,000.

Meanwhile, Rightmove figures also show an increase in rents in London for the first time since the pandemic, thought to be the result of renters returning to the capital from family homes. The cost of renting in London was up 3.6 per cent compared to last summer, according to the portal’s rental tracker.

Tim Bannister said: “A year of various lockdowns saw many city centres hit with either a complete standstill in rental growth or falls of over 10 per cent, as tenants moved further out or back in with family temporarily. But as society opened up again cities have not only bounced back but are now seeing strong rental growth, fuelled by increased demand and limited stock.”

Read more about this story in City AM and the Evening Standard.