Easy Street Financial Services 9 House Prices 9 April Update – House Prices
April Update – House Prices
April 18, 2025

The latest house price reports reflect a relatively flat month.

The latest Nationwide report actually shows a 0.00% change in March with an annual change of +3.9%.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said:

UK house price growth remained stable in March at 3.9%, the same as in February. There was no change in prices month-on-month, after taking account of seasonal effects. These price trends are unsurprising, given the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March (transactions associated with mortgage approvals made in March, especially toward the end of the month, would be unlikely to complete before the deadline). 

The latest Halifax report showed a monthly drop of -0.5% and an annual change of +2.8%.

Amanda Bryden, Head of Mortgages, Halifax, said:

House prices rose in January as buyers rushed to beat the March stamp duty deadline. However, with those deals now completing, demand is returning to normal and new applications slowing. Our customers completed more house sales in March than in January and February combined, including the busiest single day on record. Following this burst of activity, house prices, which remain near record highs, unsurprisingly fell back last month.

Looking ahead, potential buyers still face challenges from the new normal of higher borrowing costs, a limited supply of available properties to choose from, and an uncertain economic outlook.

However, with further base rate cuts anticipated alongside positive wage growth, mortgage affordability should continue to improve gradually, and therefore we still expect a modest rise in house prices this year.”

The latest Hometrack Report showed an annual increase of +1.8%.

Richard Donnell, Executive Director of Research at Hometrack said:

Buyers have a wide choice of homes for sale which will keep price inflation in check. Sellers need to be very careful in how they price their homes if they are serious about moving in 2025

The latest Rightmove Report which focuses on house prices, stated that there is a ‘New record asking price of £377,182.’

Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove said:

We’ve seen our first price record in nearly a year, despite the number of homes for sale being at a decade-high. The increased choice seems to be bringing more movers into the market, with both buyer and seller numbers up as the market remains resilient. Confidence from new sellers is a good sign for the overall health of the market, but they do need to be careful when setting their asking price.’’

House Prices to ‘Skyrocket’?

Leith van Onselen, Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super, warned that “house prices will undoubtedly skyrocket” following Labor’s re-election, driven by a combination of this scheme and expected interest rate cuts. 

Economist Saul Eslake echoed these concerns, noting that Labor’s scheme could enable borrowers with modest savings to access significantly larger mortgages. “With borrowing capacity thus enhanced, prices will go up,” he wrote, adding that while Labor estimates the scheme could help around 30,000 people annually, the broader impact on prices could be much more far-reaching

Our Thoughts

We have seen good levels of activity over the last few weeks. This is encouraging given the uncertainty around what impact the stamp duty changes could have had from the 1st April.

With speculation around interest rates reducing, this could lead to a relatively busy spring and summer period for the housing market. 

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