Real estate agent Nick Millican comments on the UK´s current housing trends. According to data from Nationwide Building Society reported in the article “UK house prices now sit 4 per cent below all-time high as first-time buyers struggle to get on the ladder”, the average UK property value fell for the second consecutive month in April.

Nationwide placed the typical home price at £261,962, around 4% under the summer 2024 peak.  As the article notes, a number of up to 49% of prospective first-time buyers seeking to purchase within the next five years have delayed their plans over the past year. This is a trend real estate agents such as Nick Millican must be pretty well aware of in order to successfully help their clients.

High prices and rapidly rising mortgage rates were cited as the primary reasons. Commenting on this, Nick Millican stated that reduced affordability for buyers is directly connected to outsized interest rate increases following the government’s September tax cut package.

This added to inflation without new funding, Nick Millican recalls. Elsewhere, sources provided differing views. While Tom Bill of Knight Frank anticipated demand recovery later in the year if rates decline as predicted, Jeremy Leaf saw negotiations intensifying with more inventory, benefitting only realistic sellers.

Overall transaction volumes were stable according to Purplebricks, with new lending buoying interest, Nick Millican later on informs. Going forward much depends on inflation and rate movements. But as Millican emphasized, squeezed affordability from high asset costs and limited wages due to hikes continues weighing on buyers and housing trends.