The reality is that there is still a disconnect between what sellers think their homes are worth and what buyers can afford to pay for them. House prices went down last year and so did the number of sales, as well as the number of buyers who were approved for a mortgage. Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Home Front. Understanding the state of Britain’s housing market has never been harder. Week in, week out newly released statistics and data seem to contradict one another.
One moment, house prices are rising and recovery looks “promising”. The next, we’re still on track for an epic fall in house prices. Firstly, there is a simple explanation for why different data tell different stories.. Headlines proclaimed that the property listings site’s data showed that UK house prices had risen by 1.5 per cent in 10 months. But, look at the detail in RightMove’s data and you’ll see that they report asking prices and not sale values