House price growth eased in October

House price growth has started to ease following the final ending of stamp duty incentives, according to the latest figures from property portal Zoopla.

The online listings firm found that the quarterly rate of house price growth dropped to 1.2% in October, less than half the 2.8% registered in July.

While annual house price growth remains close to recent highs, at 6.9%, it was down from more than 7% recorded in September, with the firm predicting a “continued slowing” of price growth in the months ahead.

Price growth remained highest in Wales in the most recent quarter, despite more than halving from 4.3% to 1.8%. Wales was followed by the South west and East midlands, which both saw growth of more than 1.5%. London remained the region with the slowest growth, with quarterly prices in creasing just 0.4% in October, compared to the 1.1% recorded in July.

The firm said 2021 was set to be the busiest housing market since 2007, with one in every 16 existing homes having changed hands. The firm said prices have also been bolstered in recent months by an extreme shortage of supply, with the total stock of homes for sale down more than 40% on the five-year average.

Grainne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said new supply will start to rise at the turn of the year as households make house-moving decisions over the Christmas holidays. She said: “Buyer demand will remain strong moving into next year, but as the market starts to normalise in 2022, there may be an increase in the proportion of activity among movers, who are active in the market as sellers as well as buyers. This should ease the constraint in supply to some extent.”