Prices are up by 2% (+£4,617) year-on-year – the highest annual rate of increase seen in November since 2007 and still up by 0.2% year-on-year with the ‘London effect’ removed.
Rightmove search activity was up 20% and enquiries up 11% on same time last year.
Miles Shipside, director and housing market analyst at Rightmove, said: “Though the market remains patchy and national statistics are given a gloss by a buoyant London market, there are a number of positive trends that justify cautious optimism as the market enters its’ winter recess. Outside the capital, agents report prices are broadly flat in many parts of the country compared to a year ago.
“This stability may indicate a sounder springboard for 2013 as the wait goes on for a sustainable recovery in transaction numbers.”
This November’s decrease of 2.6% should be put into the context of November falls of -3.2% and -3.1% in 2010 and 2011 respectively. With asking prices of property coming to market up by 2% compared to a year ago, the annual rate of increase is the highest at this time of year since the 7.9% recorded in November 2007. The two-speed market of London versus all other regions is well documented, though even with London’s 8.8% annual increase removed from the dataset the rest of the country still show marginal year-on-year growth (+0.2%).
Shipside added: “There’s a two-speed market, with sellers in the capital seeing near double-digit price growth in a year whilst the average for everywhere else remains broadly flat. However, digging beneath some of the headline regional figures unearths evidence of a second two-speed scenario in many local markets, with those that are willing or able to price under the competition selling and moving on, while those that can’t or won’t stay put. Sellers who are lacking momentum in their attempts to attract buyer attention so far this year will be hoping the market steps up a gear in 2013.”
