December House Price Data

ended 16. February 2022

Sartre was wrong when he said hell is other people. Hell is actually having to create these alerts about house price indices. But people are definitely a close second. OK, late notice, but tomorrow (Wednesday) at 09:30, the ONS is issuing its December HPI. This is the one that's based on actual sales rather than that Rightmove asking price nonsense. Anyway, you lot know the drill by now. What happened to the property market in December, is it all going to end in tears in 2022 or will the property market defy economic logic yet again and keep ploughing on, despite the rise of cannibalism due to soaring inflation? You're more likely to be pinned if you can squeeze the words ‘Sartrean’, ‘hell’ or ‘existential despair’ into your response. 

9 responses from the Newspage community

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Ian Hewett
Founder at The Bearded Mortgage Broker
"Over the past year I've watched endless borrowers scrimp and save to achieve the magical 5% deposit required to buy a shoe box, only to then see the prices of property being driven higher and higher. The lack of stock is borderline cruel, the competition to buy is intense and prices have shot upwards due to the Stamp Duty holiday and the ongoing 'race for space'. The look of anguish and annoyance as first-time buyers realise they don't have enough of a deposit to reach their dream of owning a home is hard to bear. To top it all off, interest rates are now rising and the cost of living is having a real impact on lenders' affordability criteria. The hope for first-time buyers is that the market stabilises, or even drops, as the base rate goes up and more properties come back onto the market. The market is incredibly tough at the moment for first-time buyers and is driving many into an existential despair."
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Jonathan Burridge
Founding Adviser at We Are Money
"With the property market, the simple rules of supply and demand rule supreme and that's reflected in the December data. At the moment supply is low and demand strong, and this is supporting prices despite the cost of living crisis highlighted by the latest inflation data. The post-Brexit bumpy road for property forecast by many was delayed due to the Stamp Duty holiday introduced during the pandemic. We are likely to see some regional adjustments during 2022, as there are a lot of headwinds facing the economy at present. London house prices are starting to recover from the Covid-dip, but other areas may not do so well."
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Lewis Shaw
Founder & Mortgage Expert at Shaw Financial Services
"With the inflation genie out of the bottle, the Bank of England has to move decisively to combat the scourge of diminishing purchasing power when real wages are still languishing barely above 2008 levels. While the housing market continues to confound economics experts and TV pundits alike, perhaps it’s time to ask if their economic paradigms of cause and effect still accurately reflect what happens in the real world. Since 2008, capitalism has been engulfed in an existential crisis of its own making, unable to come up with answers other than kicking the can down the road. It’s time to rethink the system rather than have to listen to the nauseating epithets of the great and good pushing us further into a Sartrean hell."
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Graham Cox
Founder & Director at Hub FS
"With everything more expensive right now, including mortgages, common sense would dictate that house prices can only go one way, namely south. But this government seems hell bent on propping up the housing market at all costs. After help to buy and the stamp duty holiday, it's surely only a matter of time before Rishi announces his next hare-brained scheme. Failing that, we expect prices to fall in 2022."
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Rhys Schofield
Managing Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
"Supply shows no sign of keeping up with demand and that just means prices will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. We even have some would-be buyers on our books who have offered full asking price on over five houses and not been successful in getting any of those offers accepted. Without real action to boost supply, prices will continue to rise. And if anyone thinks purchase prices have gone bonkers, rental prices are going up even faster."
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Dominik Lipnicki
Director at Your Mortgage Decisions Ltd
"The housing market saw double digit increases in 2021, including a strong finish to the year. Despite inflation being at a 30-year high, it is likely that we will see further house price rises in 2022, albeit they are likely to be more modest. Demand is strong and supply simply too weak."
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
"The property market in December was as buoyant as ever and showed no signs of slowing, with first-time buyers the major driver. As long as supply shows no sign of keeping up with demand, prices are likely to remain solid. But the impact of inflation is really now starting to bite and that could see prices finally come off the boil in 2022 and the beginning of a more moderate growth climate."
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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
"What goes up must come down. But so far the housing market has defied the laws of economic gravity due to demand and political intervention. The question everyone is asking is, will house prices drop, when, and by how much? During December and January we saw normal season changes in house buying activity, but nothing that indicated a more meaningful shift in the relentless demand for homes. And it's difficult to see this changing in the short-term, given the current backdrop of poor supply of stock."
Luke Loveridge
Founder and CEO at Propflo
"Given the hellish increase in the cost of living, prices are likely to come off the boil in 2022. However, I expect we will start to see prices increase more rapidly for highly energy-efficient homes. A growing numbers of lenders will lend larger sums against these homes as they help increase affordability for buyers."