Anna Zaccaria is Research Director at Dataloft
Dataloft Inform is backed by a team of property market analysts and we take responsibility for the transparency and accuracy of our market analysis.
The data we use in Dataloft Inform to report on your local area sales market comes from the Land Registry and is based on completions. However, we are aware that in a fast-moving market, it can be difficult to see the whole picture of local market conditions by looking at historical transactions.
Read on
Within the current market backdrop, asking prices in a local area may have moved some way beyond the average sales prices that are being reported on the Land Registry. Furthermore, sales prices can be reflective of properties that were first listed many months earlier. While still valid market evidence, we do understand the need to complete the picture and explain more recent movements in price. It is important that Dataloft Inform presents the most realistic view of the market, so we have made some additional information available.
Review of asking prices
Asking prices are consistently higher than sales prices. At the national level, a comparison between Rightmove asking prices and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) sales price index shows that average asking prices are typically around £75,000 more than sales prices. Asking prices can be quite volatile and, while being a good leading indicator of market sentiment, are not a reliable indication of future sales prices and could lead to unrealistic expectations from vendors. For this reason, the additional content that we have added into Dataloft Inform is based on the change in recent asking prices, but not absolute values.
UK asking and sales prices
Additional content on Dataloft Inform
A new table has been added to the Region view page to show changes in average asking prices over the last 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. The table will include the figures for both your region and the national UK level. This information is based on Rightmove average asking prices.
Change in average asking prices
How to make use of this
All our reports, flyers and letter templates are editable. If you wish, you could include a stat from this table as an indicator of recent movements in asking prices. Use this in a blog or article as a starting point for discussing current market conditions and sentiment in your area.
We will also be including this information in a new sales market report template that is set to be launched in the next couple of months.