Annual house price declines slowed in January and values returned to growth on a monthly basis, Land Registry data shows.
The latest Land Registry House Price Index shows average prices continued to decline annually during January, down 0.6% to £281,913 – although this is a less steep drop than the 2.2% recorded in December 2023.
On a monthly basis, average prices were up 0.5% compared with a 1.1% drop a month before.
Annual house price inflation was highest in the North West, where prices increased by 1% in the 12 months to January 2024. London saw an annual drop of 3.9% over the same period.
However, on a monthly basis, average values in London were up 2.5%.
Commenting on the figures, Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, said: “Property prices and transactions are picking up month-on-month as we head towards Spring, traditionally a busy time for the housing market as leaves are budding on the trees and gardens look more inviting.
“Good levels of confidence continue to prevail among buyers and sellers, with the encouraging fall in inflation fuelling hopes that the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates, if not this week, then at the next meeting.
“Mortgage rates are more palatable than last year but borrowers are having to get used to paying more for their home loans and remain price-sensitive. Properties which aren’t priced sensibly are unlikely to attract serious interest.”
Nick Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops, added: “The figures show that despite a subdued start to the year and extended winter lull, buyers and sellers are both demonstrating confidence in the market by recommitting to their searches.
“Across the Jackson-Stops network in February we saw an uplift month-on-month in appraisals, listings and exchanges, as well as a consistent number of prospective buyer enquiries year-on-year. Regional hotspots for Jackson-Stops such as Barnstaple, Chelmsford, Newmarket and Sevenoaks, saw a significant uptick in new buyer enquiries compared to new instructions in February, demonstrating the demand for homes in popular commuter towns and rural hubs across England.
“Whilst affordability challenges do remain, with mortgage rates teetering up slightly in recent weeks and competitive deals staying on the market for just a matter of days, the mid-market and where committed buyers can press ahead with purchases is accelerating at pace. If our national office statistics are any indication, the Spring bounce will be upon the market in haste this year, allowing home movers who are keen to be in over the summer optimal choice and agility.”
Seller confidence has improved in anticipation of the traditionally busier Spring market and interest rate cuts in the months ahead, research suggests.
OnTheMarket’s latest Property Sentiment Index found 60% of sellers in the UK were confident that they would sell their property within the next three months during February, up from 57% in January.
Meanwhile, 65% of active buyers remained confident that they would purchase a property within the next three months.
Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, said: “This may reflect the growing conviction around the likely trajectory of interest rates, with another rate hold in February further confirming expectations that rates have peaked and the next move will be downwards.
“Sentiment suggests buyers and sellers are simply getting on with the business of moving.
“While inflation may still be twice the Bank of England’s 2% target, the worst of it seems to be behind us. Stock levels have increased, as one would expect at this time of year as normal seasonal aspects play out.
“While property prices have come off their peak a little in the past year, indices report a gentle uptick in national average prices rather than a continuing decline in values. As our data shows, there are regional variations with micro-markets behaving differently depending on local demand and stock levels. Overall though, the outlook for the market this year is far more positive than was the case several months ago.”
While there may still be bumps in the road, Tebb said, it the housing market is “morphing into a more sustainable, encouraging state than the boom and bust of the past.”
OnTheMarket has signed a listing agreement with one of the UK’s largest independent property services firms operating in Scotland and the North of England, to advertise its UK residential sales and lettings properties.
Rettie is headquartered in Edinburgh and its 15-branch estate agency network primarily operates in London, Newcastle and Glasgow.
It also has specialist rural offices in St Andrews, Melrose and Berwick upon Tweed and includes fully integrated financial services, planning and surveying businesses, as well as property management and development divisions.
Shona Crawford, Rettie
Shona Crawford, Rettie Director of Marketing, says: “We are delighted to be listing our properties with OnTheMarket, following their acquisition by the CoStar Group.
“This is an exciting development within the residential property portal space, and it is great to be able to offer our customers access to a wide range of potential buyers through their platform, and to be working with the team at OnTheMarket in developing their customer offer.”
The deal with Rettie comes after Leaders Romans Group and Edward Mellor chose OnTheMarket as one of just two platforms it will be listing properties with going forward.
Jason Tebb (main picture), President of OnTheMarket, says: “We are delighted that Rettie has become the latest agency network to commit to OnTheMarket.
“The addition of such a strong regional brand continues our momentum and further strengthens our presence in the region as we continue our push for growth across the country.”
And he adds: “The business is making tremendous progress towards its goal of becoming the leading agent-friendly platform in the UK residential marketplace. We believe that we are now the fastest growing residential portal in the UK following the acquisition by CoStar Group.”
OnTheMarket (OTM) has signed a listing agreement with Rettie, one of the UK’s largest independent property services firms operating in Scotland and the North of England.
It follows similar announcements with Leaders Romans Group and Edward Mellor.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, Rettie’s 15-branch estate agency network primarily operates in London, Newcastle and Glasgow.
Jason Tebb, president of OTM, said: “We are delighted that Rettie has become the latest agency network to commit to OnTheMarket. The addition of such a strong regional brand continues our momentum and further strengthens our presence in the region as we continue our push for growth across the country.
“The business is making tremendous progress towards its goal of becoming the leading agent-friendly platform in the UK residential marketplace. We believe that we are now the fastest growing residential portal in the UK following the acquisition by CoStar Group.”
Shona Crawford, director of marketing of Rettie, added: “We are delighted to be listing our properties with OnTheMarket, following their acquisition by the CoStar Group.
“This is an exciting development within the residential property portal space, and it is great to be able to offer our customers access to a wide range of potential buyers through their platform, and to be working with the team at OnTheMarket in developing their customer offer.”
OnTheMarket is set to bring back its popular town hall meetings with agents.
It will be the first since its acquisition by CoStar.
Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, will be visiting each region of the country over the coming months as part of ‘The Revolution Tour’ where he will be updating agents on how the business will leverage CoStar’s expertise and resources in an effort to become the market leading property portal.
Since the first set of tour dates were announced to agents last month, the events in London and the East Midlands have already sold out, with only a limited number of tickets still available for the remaining events in the North East. The first event of the series was held yesterday in Newport, Wales, with a further three sessions to run throughout March.
Details of the remaining events are listed below:
The Revolution Tour follows a successful history of award-winning virtual events which OnTheMarket first launched in February 2021. The sessions engage with and listen to agent customers from around the country and these latest events will mark the first time a Town Hall of this kind will be taken on the road and held in person.
Food and beverages will be provided at each event where agents will also have the chance to win thousands of pounds worth of holiday vouchers.
Once the opening four events of the tour have come to an end, one attending agent will also win a £10,000 prize.
Tebb said: “We remain committed to engaging with our agent customers who are at the heart of everything we do. This is still very much the case following our acquisition by CoStar and this tour shows that our ethos of listening, innovating and delivering remains at the core of our strategy.
“We have started a journey which will see us become the number one property portal in the UK, and this tour is an opportunity for our agents to come along and hear from me about how we’ll make this happen.
“The revolution in UK property search has begun and I’m really looking forward to travelling around the country to share our plans with agents on how we plan to achieve our shared goals.”
Agents who wish to join the hundreds who have already signed up can register for a free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-revolution-tour-3098839
Additional dates for the tour, which will cover the rest of the UK and Scotland, will be announced in due course.
OnTheMarket (OTM) has hailed the progress made since its acquisition by CoStar Group and believes it can displace Rightmove.
The US-owned real estate portal giant acquired OTM in December, promising a major marketing drive.
OTM has reported in an update that since the takeover, more than 1,000 new agents have joined and 57,000 listings have been added.
It said monthly leads to agents are up 81% and unique monthly visitors are up 81% annually.
OTM’s agent office count has also increased by 10% since the CoStar acquisition, the brand said, with more than 14,000 agents now listing on the site.
CoStar has said it intends to spend £46.5m in the first year of a multi-year investment initiative totalling hundreds of millions of pounds.
Jason Tebb, who now has the lofty title of president of OTM, said: “As these results show, we are making tremendous progress with our strategy of becoming the leading agent-friendly platform in the UK residential marketplace.
“We believe that we are now the fastest growing residential portal in the UK In a very small space of time following the acquisition of the business, we have initiated the first phase of a multiyear program to drive consumers to OnTheMarket which will significantly increase the quality of valuable leads to our agents at fair and sustainable prices.
“We believe we can create the number one property portal in the UK, leveraging CoStar Group’s expertise and resources. With the successes of Apartments.com and Homes.com, we have a proven playbook to follow, which perfectly complements our knowledge of the UK market and our differentiated product.”
OTM has signed a listing agreement with Edward Mellor, one of the UK’s largest independent property firms in the North of England, to advertise its UK residential sales and lettings properties.
The Neg reported last month how Leaders Romans Group had selected just two major platforms where it will be listing properties – the other being Rightmove – and Edward Mellor has adopted a similar strategy.
Edward Mellor is headquartered in Stockport and the 15-branch estate agency operates throughout Tameside, Stockport, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
It offers fully integrated financial services, planning, conveyancing and surveying as well as having property management, development and auction divisions.
Jason Tebb (main picture), President of OTM, says: “I’m delighted Edward Mellor has chosen to commit to OnTheMarket as part of its two-portal strategy.
“The addition of such a strong regional brand further strengthens our presence in the North West as we continue our push for growth across the country.”
And he adds: “It’s an incredibly exciting time for our agents, with the acquisition by CoStar Group accelerating our target of becoming the market leader, bringing industry-leading global expertise and significant financial firepower to help deliver even more value for all our customers.”
Colin Mellor, Edward Mellor
Colin Mellor, Chief Executive of Edward Mellor, adds: “For us it is now clear that with CoStar’s substantial financial reserves their recent acquisition creates the opportunity for a paradigm shift in the marketing of properties, both for consumers and agents alike.
“We envisage the OnTheMarket Brand now becoming a major influencer in the portal market and we look forward to seeing how our relationship develops.”
OnTheMarket has signed a multi-year listing agreement with Leaders Romans Group (LRG), one of the UK’s largest property services firms, to advertise its UK residential sales and lettings properties via the portal.
LRG has selected just two major platforms where it will be listing properties – The Neg understands that the other is Rightmove – and is the first major agency to advertise with OnTheMarket since its recent acquisition by CoStar Group.
LRG’s network of sales, lettings and professional services businesses encompass over 245 branches across many well-known agency brands located throughout the country.
The agreement includes heritage brands Leaders and Romans, alongside Scottfraser; Moginie James; Gibbs Gillespie; Portico; Hose Rhodes Dickson; Acorn; Langford Russell; John Payne and SOWN who will all advertise their sales and letting properties with OnTheMarket.
Any agencies that become part of LRG during the listing agreement will also advertise with OnTheMarket.
Jason Tebb (main picture), President of OnTheMarket, says: “I’m really pleased LRG has chosen to commit to our portal as their strong brands continue to evolve and the partnership will help our ongoing push for growth across the country.”
He adds: “It’s an incredibly exciting time for our agents, with the acquisition by CoStar Group set to accelerate our target of becoming the market leader, bringing industry-leading global expertise and significant financial firepower to help deliver even more value for all our customers.”
Michael Cook, Leaders Romans Group
Michael Cook, Chief Executive of LRG, adds: “We are looking forward to a successful new partnership with OnTheMarket, having been impressed with the continued innovation and development of their platform.
“We are excited by the opportunities their recent acquisition by CoStar will bring, with industry leading expertise and significant financial backing, we hope to see the OnTheMarket brand flourish over the next couple of years.”
Zoopla has been approached for comment.
OnTheMarket has signed a multiyear listing agreement with Leaders Romans Group (LRG).
The CoStar-backed portal has been selected as one of just two platforms that LRG will be listing properties with.
The portal dropped by LRG hasn’t been publicly revealed but it appears that the agency brand is currently still listing with Rightmove so may have dropped Zoopla.
It comes after LRG had signed a three-year portal agreement with Zoopla in 2021.
LRG’s Michael Cook has also been chair of Zoopla’s lettings advisory board.
Under the OnTheMarket agreement, LRG brands will all advertise their sales and letting properties on the portal.
Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, said: “I’m really pleased Leaders Romans Group has chosen to commit to our portal as their strong brands continue to evolve and the partnership will help our ongoing push for growth across the country.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time for our agents, with the acquisition by CoStar Group set to accelerate our target of becoming the market leader, bringing industry-leading global expertise and significant financial firepower to help deliver even more value for all our customers.”
Cook, chief executive of LRG, added: “We are looking forward to a successful new partnership with OnTheMarket, having been impressed with the continued innovation and development of their platform. We are excited by the opportunities their recent acquisition by CoStar will bring, with industry leading expertise and significant financial backing, we hope to see the OnTheMarket brand flourish over the next couple of years.”
An LRG spokesperson declined to comment on which portal has been dropped but said there have been no changes to the positions its agents hold on lettings or sales councils.
Zoopla declined to comment.
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