House price growth in UK cities has slowed by 1.4 per cent to an annual rate of 6.4 per cent, according to the latest report from property market analysts Hometrack.

Brexit uncertainty impacts London house prices

Turnover has fallen in many high value areas in SE England with the volume of house sales in London down by eight per cent on the back of weakening demand because of the uncertainty following the Brexit referendum vote, according to Hometrack.By contrast, the report said sales volumes had increased by up to 40 per cent in large cities outside of the south of England, pushing up prices. Hometrack attributed this in part to increased buyer confidence, resulting from the improved outlook for jobs and record low mortgage rates.In London, year-on-year house price fell to 5.6 per cent last month, its lowest level since 2013, amid continuing problems of affordability."Affordability pressures continue to bite in high value cities in southern England while the supply and demand dynamics are not strong enough in many regional cities outside the south to support double digit rates of house price growth," said Hometrack."A continued slowdown in London house price growth...has seen London fall to 10th in the list of the fastest growing cities. Slower growth in London is acting as a drag on headline growth. By contrast, Manchester is registering the highest rate of growth at 8.8 per cent."The report said that regional cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester and Birmingham had recorded significant surges in transaction volumes since 2014.

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Richard Donnell, insight director at Hometrack, said: “Levels of housing turnover across UK cities are expected to remain broadly flat over 2017. There is some further upside for sales volume in regional cities but much depends upon how would be buyers respond to external factors, not least the impact of lower real wage growth, the potential for higher mortgage rates and whether demand will be impacted by the triggering of Article 50 at the end of the month.“Buyers are fully aware of the government’s plans and timescales for Brexit but there remains huge uncertainty over what this means for the economy over the next two to three years and beyond."In cities where affordability remains attractive we expect demand to hold up in the short term albeit with slower growth in sales volumes. Overall, we continue to expect the rate of house price growth to moderate over the rest of 2017.”

Wolverhampton, Liverpool and Bradford: slow-moving housing markets

Meanwhile, an analysis of last week's Rightmove figures on the time it takes to sell a property in Britain has found that Wolverhampton, Liverpool and Bradford are the slowest-moving markets.The analysis by online estate agents HouseSimple.com found that more than a quarter of the properties in each of the three cities had been on the market for more than six months.It also found that 15 per cent of properties in Sunderland and eight per cent in Newcastle had been for sale for a year or longer...and that a two-bedroom flat in Bolton had been on the market since November 2008.

Northampton: the easiest place for property transactions

The original Rightmove analysis, reported on relocatemagazine.com, found that Northampton was the easiest place for property transactions with only 27 days on average separating the day a home went on the market and the day it went under offer.HouseSimple found that no properties currently advertised for sale in Northampton had been on the market longer than 12 months and that only 4.2 per cent had been advertised for six months or more.For related news and features, visit our Residential Property section.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory  Get access to our free Global Mobility Toolkit

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