London remains the sole faller
House Buyer Bureau’s assessment of the UK House Price Index found London the only British region with a negative average monthly rate of house price growth over the past 12 months, at -0.2%.
The North East recorded the strongest average monthly growth, at 0.8%, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West, both at 0.6%. The West Midlands and East Midlands each posted 0.5%, England as a whole averaged 0.3%, and the South East was flat at 0.0%.
1.8 million renewals due this year
Timing adds to the pressure. Roughly 1.8 million fixed-rate mortgage deals are due to expire this year, according to UK Finance‘s latest mortgage market forecast, meaning a large share of borrowers face a fresh valuation and rate assessment regardless of what happens to London prices between now and December.
For those already in negative equity or close to it, options narrow further. Most lenders will only accept new applications up to a set maximum LTV, which is why product transfers with an existing lender, rather than a move to a new lender, tend to be the fallback route when a valuation has fallen since purchase.
Chris Hodgkinson, Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, whose data underpins the forecast, said the wider property market had seen minimal growth over the past 12 months, with London remaining the exception.