Housepresso 22 August 21
All you need to know about the housing market this week in one quick hit
Stamp Duty Gap year - one year in who is winning?
The Stamp Duty Holiday turned into a Stamp Duty Gap Year after it was extended and we now have data relating to the gap year and the gap year is a story of winners and losers, but which are you?
In this article, we look at the latest provisional data on house prices and housing transactions to see if the Stamp Duty Holiday achieved what it set out to do. Drilling down to the local authority level for house prices.
UK house prices rise as cliff approaches
The average house price in the UK is £265,668, average prices have increased by 13.2% or (£30,965) over the last year, and increased by 4.5% or (£11,400) last month. We note that these figures are provisional and subject to change, however, the size and the scale of these increases reflect the heightened housing market activity as homebuyers sought to complete their house purchases before arriving at the first of two stamp duty cliffs. The Stamp Duty Holiday benefit level was reduced from £500,000 on the 30 June 2021 to £250,000 from 1 July 2021
UK average house prices have increased by 15.2% (£35,059) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
London house prices finely balanced
The latest data from the Land Registry shows that the average house price in London rose by 2.5% or £12,603 to £510,299 in June 2021. However, during June 2021 house prices fell in 15 of the 34 London boroughs. During June 2021 Inner and Outer London had the lowest house price inflation of all the regions across the UK.
The biggest London house price gains last month were to be found in Harrow up £21,727 or 4.3%, Camden up £17,893 or 2.1% and Kensington & Chelsea up £17,772 or 1.5%.
The biggest falls were in the City of Westminster down 3.9% or £36,295, followed by the City of London down £11,552 or 1.5% and Tower Hamlets down £9,379 or Hackney down £25,474 and Islington down £17,041 or 2.0%.
Twindig Housing Market Index
Persimmon powering ahead
Whilst the end of the stamp duty holiday may cause short term hiccups for some as housing transactions volumes soften, Persimmon is powering through the turbulence. With 2021 looking more like 2019 than 2020, Persimmon has put the pandemic in its review mirror and is looking to the future and investing in the future, and it is clear that Persimmon believes that the future is bright. Growing its landbank is a sign of intent that the fundamental imbalance of supply and demand of homes remains. We may be changing where we want to live, but that place is still called home, and we are not building enough of them. Whilst that shortage remains, homebuilders shares are likely to be well bid.