Our Advertising Network

Whilst each of these local newspaper sites will not have nearly the same number of visitors as Rightmove, FindaProperty or Zoopla these sites are an important addition to our advertising network as they will market our properties on a more local level. Your property will therefore be advertised to readers of your local newspaper (if listed below).

Please be aware if you local online newspaper is not listed below please visit their site and check their property section – chances are we will also be advertising on there as these local newspaper sites tend to take a feed from one of property portal partners such as Zoopla.co.uk.

Unique Visitors

According to this data Rightmove has about the same number of unique visitors as its main 3 competitors combined (Zoopla, FindaProperty & Primelocation). Despite spending millions on new TV advertising campaigns these 3 other sites are so far behind that it looks like the planned merger between Zoopla and TDPG (who own FindaProperty, Primelocation & Globrix) is the only way Rightmove will be overtaken as the No.1. portal portal in the UK.

The status of this merger is still unclear and staff at both companies continue to say they don’t know what is happening with the merger every time I ask them about it (or else they are keeping it confidential).

Total Visits

Of the 56.42m visits registered by Google Ad Planner to the top 8 portals in March 56.16% (30m) were to Rightmove which again shows it dominance.

Visitor Loyalty

These figures do not show how loyal visitors are to each portal but it is important not assume visitors just use one portal and stick to it (i.e. many of Rightmove’s visitors will also visit Zoopla etc). The only data I can find about how many of these visitors are shared comes from 2010 studies which indicated that 49% of Zoopla visitors also use Rightmove[i] and only 20% of property searchers who visit Primelocation and FindaProperty also visit Rightmove[ii]. (This data is surprising to me but I have seen nothing else to refute it). However, the main point is that there is undoubtedly visitor loyalty across the portals which is why you should always chose an Estate Agent that advertises on all the top 4 portals – if you don’t a large proportion of potential home buyers will not see your property.

Visitor Engagement

As well as the number of views each property portal receives it is important to look at visitor engagement which can best be measured by looking at how long each visitor stays on the site and how many pages they look at on average.

So as well as having more visitors, Rightmove move also has the highest visitor engagement. Visitors to Rightmove stay on the site longer and view more pages on average than the other portals. Incidentally, I am not sure why Google Ad Planner is showing average visits per visitor as less than 1 for Nestoria and Globrix – surely this has to be at 1?

Page Views

So more visitors visit Rightmove each month, come back more often and visit more pages on the site on average. The result is that Rightmove has more pageviews each month than not only the next 7 shown on these charts but also the next 19 that we investigated!

So there you have it – Rightmove continues to dominate this market which goes some way to explain why they posted record profits last year and continue to increase their fees to estate agents who will seriously struggle to succeed without using them. It just remains to be seen if the the Zoopla / TDPG group merger will be approved and if this will result in a credible threat to Rightmove’s monopoly.

The data & glossary relating to these graphs is published below.

Individual Data & Changes Over Time

Rightmove

FindaProperty.com

Zoopla.co.ukPrimelocation.com

Nestoria.co.uk

Globrix.co.uk

Homes.Trovit.co.uk

Home.co.uk

If spending £5K on a new kitchen will result in your selling your home for £10K more surely this is worth it (assuming you have the £5K in the first place and you are willing to put up with the disruption whilst the work takes place). The important thing is that you allocate your improvement budget wisely so each £1 you spend adds the maximum possible value. The graphic below should help you allocate your improvement budget as it gives an indication of which improvements add the most value (these figures come from the OFT and Phil Spencer and were put together by the Remortgage Supermarket).

Source: Remortgage Supermarket

1. Loftcube

Not only is this look fantastic but it very environmentally friendly and can be dropped anywhere – like a rooftop via helicopter! Order now from Werner Aisslinger – it can be yours for $55,000. A little pricey for one room.

2. Fincube

I think would prefer the slightly larger fincube they make which can be seen below:

3. Weehouse

If you fancy something smaller why not try the aptly named Weehouse. This is just $125 per square foot and like the Loftcube can be dropped nearly anywhere. The basic one has a steel and wood frame, bamboo flooring and they decided to go with Ikea cabinets, kitchen and sinks.

4. Tiny Tumbleweed House

Jay Shafer’s Tiny Tumbleweed House represents what he calls “subtractive design” although some people may think he has subtracted too much. This tiny house ranges comes in a range of designs but the smallest is only 40 Sq Feet. It may look like a garden shed fro to some but many are used as offices, holiday homes and even full time homes. Not happy with your neighbours – no problem. Just stick it on the back of the truck and move on.

5. Sustain MiniHome

Stuffed full of environmentally green materials and technology this really is one for the sustainable crowd. No vinyl, formaldehyde, toxic adhesives or finishes, all water-based or plant oil-based finishes, FSC certification, natural ventilation… etc etc. However, it will also appeal to the those looking for a clean and minimalist design and of course those who like to feel they can take their home on a road trip at any time.

• The sale prices of similar properties in the same area to the one you are valuing
• The current and recent advertising of similar prices properties to the one you are valuing
• The current the property market

There are many free online resources that can help you with each of these points but my first stop is often the very useful ‘Price Comparison Report’ that Rightmove recently introduced. This can be found in the House Price Drop down menu shown on Rightmove’s main navigation bar at the top.

The first thing to do would be to enter in the postcode of the property you are trying to value (if you only know the number and street name of the property, use the post office’s post code finder). This will bring up a list of properties in this postcode that are currently on the market and the prices of properties that are no longer on the market including their actual sold prices if they sold in the last few years. Here is  summary of each of these areas:

‘On the market’ section

This area shows all the properties currently listed on Rightmove in the area selected  (it includes the same properties shown in the normal Rightmove area). Whilst this informaiton is very important for our purposes and should be looked at in detail it is pretty self explanatory so lets move on to the less well know sections that also provide very valuable information.

‘No longer on the market’ section

This section will show the properties that were previously advertised on Rightmove and their most recent sale price if they have sold recently. If you can not find more than one or two properties in this report expand the radius to ¼ mile.  Also, Rightmove will only show the first five properties so click the ‘Show more properties’ link if you see it at the bottom of this section.

Remember, you are trying to find information on similar properties in the local area. You can filter by property type and bedrooms but I would advise not filtering initially so you can get an idea of the advertising and sale prices of all properties in the area. You should be focusing on the following:

1. The advertising prices
2. How have the advertising prices have changed over time
3. How many properties have sold as a proportion of those being advertised
4. How close are the sold prices to the advertising prices (sale prices that are near to the advertising price normally suggest a strong market unless a quick sale was required or the property was undervalued by the agent selling it).
5. Are there any particular properties listed with multiple agents over a similar time period without being sold. This may be an issue with that particular property or agent but can also indicate sales are hard to achieve to home owners keep switching agents to try and get a sale.

‘Sold prices in nearby streets’ section

This is another really good source of information as it is not not simply a list of sold prices provided by sites like nethouseprices.com or mouseprices.com. It includes the advertising photos, floorplans and key features of the sold properties if they were previously advertised on Rightmove. It is important to look out for statements like  ‘Auction’ or ‘Reduced for Quick Sale’ in the ‘Key Features’ section which gives you an indication that it may have sold below market value and may not represent the true market value of the property.

So, assuming the property you are valuing is located in an area with similar properties that have sold in the last 10 or so years you should be able to have a pretty good idea of its value using this method.

I am the first to acknowledge that many estate agents charge excessively high fees for what they do and we have grown our business as a result of this. However, it is frustrating when some home sellers seem to regard estate agency services as a uniform commodity like a DVD – they compare prices online and select the cheapest one.

For the vast majority of home owners their priority is to receive the maximum amount of money from the sale of their property after estate agency fees are paid and to have the whole sale process managed as professionally as possible according to their needs.

Going for the cheapest estate agent may sound like it will save money but this assumes the sale price of the property will be the same whichever agent is used. For example, I would be happy to pay my estate agent £5000 in fees to sell my house for £200,000 rather than pay another agent £399 in fees to sell my house for £190,000. This sounds obvious but as fees are known upfront and sale prices are not many people select the cheapest fee option without really thinking about the possible impact this choice will have on the price their property will sell for.

Of course we would charge much less than a high street agent to sell a £200,000 house but more than many online estate agents*. However, the point is not about who has the most/east expensive fees but which agent will leave the home seller with the most money after the sale is complete and their agency fees are paid (and the least stressed out after the sale is complete!).

*Our fees for selling a £200,000 property would range from £795 to £1500 depending on if you wanted to pay anything upfront or not.

Rightmove has chosen to do this to provide a better quality of service for home buyers and  keep estate agents happy which both result in a more profitable business and happier Rightmove shareholders.

The reason why this provides a better quality of service for home buyers is that unlike private home sale websites, estate agents have to comply with the Estate Agency Act of 1979 and the Misdescriptions Act of 1991 which ensured that amongst other things, estate agents had to visit the properties they were advertising, organise all viewings, inform vendors of all offers and under no circumstances advertise properties details that they know to be false or misleading.This was not the case for private selling companies who relied on the details provided by private home sellers – in the vast majority of cases they never checked the accuracy of the information they were displaying. Understandably, Rightmove did not want property searchers to be presented with property information they could not rely on or advertise the contact details of private home sale companies who did not have to provide clients with certain standards of service.

In the short term Rightmove may have got some additional revenue from signing up these private home sale websites but over time they risked losing web visitors due to displaying poor quality property information and losing fees from estate agents who did not want to share advertising space with private home sale companies who could undercut their fees.

So What About Online Estate Agents – Why Are They Allowed on Rightmove?

Online Estate Agents have to comply with Estate Agency Act of 1979 and the Misdescriptions Act of 1991 and should not be confused with private house sale sites. The main difference between online estate agents and normal estate agents is that online estate agents normally don’t do accompanied viewings. However, given that nearly all traditional estate agents are online and many don’t actually accompany all/any of their viewings the distinction between the two is not that clear cut. As a side note we are astounded how often we get told by our clients that their previous traditional agent never accompanied the viewings but still charged them 2%+ in fees.

Nationwide House Price Index

Period Covered	Average House Price	Monthly Change (%)	Annual Change (%)	Official Report
Dec 11	£163,822	0.20	1.00
Nov 11	£165,798	0.40	1.60
Oct 11	£165,650	0.40	0.80
Sep 11	£166,256	0.10	0.30
Aug 11	£165,914	0.60	0.40
Jul 11	£168,731	0.20	0.40
Jun 11	£168,205	0.00	1.10
May 11	£167,208	0.30	1.20
Apr 11	£165,609	0.20	1.30
Mar 11	£164,751	0.50	0.10
Feb 11	£161,183	0.30	0.10
Jan 11	£161,602	0.10	1.10
2010
Dec 10	£162,763	0.40	0.40
Nov 10	£163,398	0.30	0.40
Oct 10	£164,381	0.70	1.40
Sep 10	£166,757	0.10	3.10
Aug 10	£166,507	0.90	3.90
Jul 10	£169,347	0.50	6.60
Jun 10	£170,111	0.10	8.70
May 10	£169,162	0.50	9.80
Apr 10	£167,802	1.00	10.50
Mar 10	£164,519	0.70	9.00
Feb 10	£161,320	1.00	9.20
Jan 10	£163,481	1.20	8.60
2009
Dec 09	£162,103	0.40	5.90
Nov 09	£162,764	0.50	2.70
Oct 09	£162,038	0.40	2.00
Sep 09	£161,816	0.90	0.00
Aug 09	£160,224	1.60	2.70
Jul 09	£158,871	1.30	6.20
Jun 09	£156,442	0.90	9.30
May 09	£154,016	1.20	11.30
Apr 09	£151,861	0.40	15.00
Mar 09	£150,946	0.90	15.70
Feb 09	£147,746	1.80	17.60
Jan 09	£150,501	1.30	16.60
2008
Dec 08	£153,048	2.50	15.90
Nov 08	£158,442	0.40	13.90
Oct 08	£158,872	1.40	14.60
Sep 08	£161,797	1.70	12.40
Aug 08	£164,654	1.90	10.50
Jul 08	£169,316	1.70	8.10
Jun 08	£172,415	0.90	6.30
May 08	£173,583	2.50	4.40
Apr 08	£178,555	1.10	1.00
Mar 08	£179,110	0.60	1.10
Feb 08	£179,358	0.50	2.70
Jan 08	£180,473	0.10	4.20
2007
Dec 07	£182,080	0.50	4.80
Nov 07	£184,099	0.80	6.90
Oct 07	£186,044	1.10	9.70
Sep 07	£184,723	0.70	9.00
Aug 07	£183,898	0.60	9.60
Jul 07	£184,270	0.10	9.90
Jun 07	£184,070	1.10	11.10
May 07	£181,584	0.50	10.30
Apr 07	£180,314	0.90	10.20
Mar 07	£177,083	0.40	9.30
Feb 07	£174,706	0.70	10.20
Jan 07	£173,225	0.30	9.30
2006
Dec 06	£173,746	1.20	10.50
Nov 06	£172,185	1.40	9.60
Oct 06	£169,623	0.70	8.00
Sep 06	£169,413	1.30	8.20
Aug 06	£167,721	0.80	6.60
Jul 06	£167,733	0.80	5.90
Jun 06	£165,730	0.30	5.00
May 06	£164,632	0.20	4.70
Apr 06	£163,573	0.10	4.80
Mar 06	£162,083	1.10	5.30
Feb 06	£158,573	0.00	3.70
Jan 06	£158,478	1.40	4.40
2005
Dec 05	£157,250	0.50	3.00
Nov 05	£157,139	0.00	2.40
Oct 05	£157,107	1.30	3.30
Sep 05	£156,517	0.20	1.80
Aug 05	£157,310	0.20	2.30
Jul 05	£158,348	0.20	2.60
Jun 05	£157,791	0.20	4.10
May 05	£157,272	0.30	5.50
Apr 05	£156,128	0.90	7.00
Mar 05	£153,876	0.60	7.90
Feb 05	£152,879	0.50	10.20
Jan 05	£151,757	0.40	12.60
2004
Dec 04	£152,623	0.20	12.70	N/A
Nov 04	£153,439	0.90	15.00	N/A
Oct 04	£152,159	0.00	15.30	N/A
Sep 04	£153,727	0.40	17.80	N/A
Aug 04	£153,743	0.10	18.90	N/A
Jul 04	£154,299	1.90	20.30	N/A
Jun 04	£151,524	0.80	19.10	N/A
May 04	£149,020	1.70	19.50	N/A
Apr 04	£145,918	1.80	18.90	N/A
Mar 04	£142,584	1.50	16.70	N/A
Feb 04	£138,730	2.60	17.10	N/A
Jan 04	£134,806	0.60	14.30	N/A
2003
Dec 03	£135,444	1.90	15.60	N/A
Nov 03	£133,388	1.20	15.20	N/A
Oct 03	£131,947	2.10	16.10	N/A
Sep 03	£130,473	1.30	15.50	N/A
Aug 03	£129,258	1.30	16.60	N/A
Jul 03	£128,251	0.90	17.90	N/A
Jun 03	£127,214	1.10	19.20	N/A
May 03	£124,752	1.20	21.30	N/A
Apr 03	£122,748	0.00	22.20	N/A
Mar 03	£122,180	1.70	26.20	N/A
Feb 03	£118,521	0.30	24.80	N/A
Jan 03	£117,905	1.70	26.50	N/A
2002
Dec 02	£117,206	1.60	25.30	N/A
Nov 02	£115,761	1.90	25.50	N/A
Oct 02	£113,665	1.50	24.00	N/A
Sep 02	£112,919	2.20	22.20	N/A
Aug 02	£110,890	2.40	22.70	N/A
Jul 02	£108,818	2.20	21.00	N/A
Jun 02	£106,693	2.90	19.80	N/A
May 02	£102,886	2.00	17.90	N/A
Apr 02	£100,473	3.40	16.50	N/A
Mar 02	£96,692	0.60	13.80	N/A
Feb 02	£94,965	1.60	14.00	N/A
Jan 02	£93,231	0.70	11.70	N/A
2001
Dec 01	£93,544	1.70	13.80	N/A
Nov 01	£92,262	0.80	12.80	N/A
Oct 01	£91,653	0.20	13.10	N/A
Sep 01	£92,432	2.70	14.60	N/A
Aug 01	£90,361	0.80	11.90	N/A
Jul 01	£89,962	1.30	10.90	N/A
Jun 01	£89,068	1.30	9.30	N/A
May 01	£87,267	0.80	7.70	N/A
Apr 01	£86,244	1.00	6.60	N/A
Mar 01	£85,077	0.80	7.20	N/A
Feb 01	£83,314	0.50	8.10	N/A
Jan 01	£83,450	2.50	11.20	N/A

Period Covered	Average House Price	Monthly Change (%)	Annual Change (%)	Official Report
Dec 11	£160.063	0.9	1.3
Nov 11	£161,731	0.9	1.0
Oct 11	£163,311	1.3	1.8
Sep 11	£161,132	0.50	2.30
Aug 11	£161,743	1.20	2.60
Jul 11	£163,981	0.30	2.60
Jun 11	£163,049	1.20	3.50
May 11	£160,519	0.10	4.20
Apr 11	£160,395	1.40	3.70
Mar 11	£162,912	0.10	2.90
Feb 11	£162,657	0.90	2.80
Jan 11	£164,173	0.80	2.40
2010
Dec 10	£162,435	1.30	1.60
Nov 10	£164,708	0.10	0.70
Oct 10	£164,919	1.80	1.20
Sep 10	£162,096	3.60	2.60
Aug 10	£167,953	0.20	4.60
Jul 10	£167,425	0.60	4.90
Jun 10	£166,203	0.60	6.30
May 10	£167,570	0.40	6.90
Apr 10	£168,202	0.10	6.60
Mar 10	£168,521	1.10	5.20
Feb 10	£166,857	1.50	4.50
Jan 10	£169,777	0.60	3.60	N/A
2009
Dec 09	£169,042	1.00	1.10	N/A
Nov 09	£167,664	1.40	1.60	N/A
Oct 09	£165,528	1.20	4.70
Sep 09	£163,533	1.60	7.40
Aug 09	£160,973	0.80	10.10
Jul 09	£159,623	1.10	12.10
Jun 09	£157,713	0.50	15.00
May 09	£158,565	2.60	16.30
Apr 09	£154,716	1.70	17.70
Mar 09	£157,226	1.90	17.50
Feb 09	£160,327	2.30	17.70
Jan 09	£163,966	1.90	17.20
2008
Dec 08	£159,896	2.20	16.20
Nov 08	£163,605	2.60	14.90
Oct 08	£168,176	2.20	13.70
Sep 08	£172,108	1.30	12.40
Aug 08	£174,178	1.80	10.90
Jul 08	£177,351	1.70	8.80
Jun 08	£180,344	2.00	6.10
May 08	£184,111	2.40	3.80
Apr 08	£189,027	1.30	0.90
Mar 08	£191,556	2.50	1.10
Feb 08	£196,649	0.30	4.20
Jan 08	£197,244	0.00	4.50
2007
Dec 07	£197,039	1.30	5.20
Nov 07	£194,895	1.10	6.30
Oct 07	£197,248	0.50	8.90
Sep 07	£198,500	0.60	10.70
Aug 07	£199,770	0.40	11.40
Jul 07	£198,915	0.70	11.20
Jun 07	£197,461	0.40	10.70
May 07	£196,893	0.30	10.60
Apr 07	£196,745	1.10	10.90
Mar 07	£194,362	1.00	11.10
Feb 07	£192,233	1.80	9.90
Jan 07	£188,623	1.30	9.90
2006
Dec 06	£186,035	1.00	9.90
Nov 06	£187,995	1.70	9.60
Oct 06	£184,593	1.70	8.60
Sep 06	£181,186	1.00	8.00
Aug 06	£179,043	1.00	8.20
Jul 06	£177,020	0.20	8.80
Jun 06	£176,509	1.20	9.40
May 06	£178,997	0.10	9.10
Apr 06	£178,992	2.00	8.00
Mar 06	£175,215	0.90	6.20
Feb 06	£173,498	1.40	5.50
Jan 06	£170,833	0.40	5.10
2005
Dec 05	£171,632	1.00	5.10
Nov 05	£170,086	1.20	4.50
Oct 05	£168,210	0.00	3.90
Sep 05	£168,299	1.20	3.00
Aug 05	£165,967	1.60	2.50
Jul 05	£162,994	0.20	2.30
Jun 05	£162,605	0.10	3.70
May 05	£162,411	0.60	5.70
Apr 05	£163,615	0.00	7.80
Mar 05	£163,714	0.50	9.70
Feb 05	£162,816	0.50	12.10
Jan 05	£163,748	0.80	13.70
2004
Dec 04	£162,493	1.40	15.10	N/A
Nov 04	£160,259	0.20	16.80	N/A
Oct 04	£160,639	1.20	18.50	N/A
Sep 04	£162,669	1.30	20.50	N/A
Aug 04	£160,584	0.50	21.30	N/A
Jul 04	£161,466	1.10	22.10	N/A
Jun 04	£159,685	1.20	21.50	N/A
May 04	£157,785	2.20	20.40	N/A
Apr 04	£154,449	1.90	19.10	N/A
Mar 04	£151,509	2.20	18.50	N/A
Feb 04	£148,183	1.90	17.80	N/A
Jan 04	£145,430	2.40	16.00	N/A
2003
Dec 03	£143,009	1.50	N/A	N/A
Nov 03	£139,845	1.20	N/A	N/A
Oct 03	£138,208	1.70	N/A	N/A
Sep 03	£135,882	1.00	N/A	N/A
Aug 03	£134,559	1.70	N/A	N/A
Jul 03	£132,371	1.40	N/A	N/A
Jun 03	£130,566	0.80	N/A	N/A
May 03	£129,586	1.20	N/A	N/A
Apr 03	£128,016	0.70	N/A	N/A
Mar 03	£127,186	1.30	N/A	N/A
Feb 03	£125,571	2.10	N/A	N/A
Jan 03	£123,026	1.60	N/A	N/A
2002
Dec 02	£121,134	2.20	N/A	N/A
Nov 02	£123,916	1.90	N/A	N/A
Oct 02	£121,618	4.20	N/A	N/A
Sep 02	£116,663	4.80	N/A	N/A
Aug 02	£111,283	0.40	N/A	N/A
Jul 02	£111,731	1.80	N/A	N/A
Jun 02	£109,725	2.30	N/A	N/A
May 02	£107,247	3.90	N/A	N/A
Apr 02	£103,192	0.70	N/A	N/A
Mar 02	£102,468	0.70	N/A	N/A
Feb 02	£101,708	1.00	N/A	N/A
Jan 02	£100,684	1.80	N/A	N/A
2001
Dec 01	£98,856	2.80	N/A	N/A
Nov 01	£96,132	2.70	N/A	N/A
Oct 01	£93,609	0.40	N/A	N/A
Sep 01	£94,011	0.20	N/A	N/A
Aug 01	£94,195	1.80	N/A	N/A
Jul 01	£92,514	0.70	N/A	N/A
Jun 01	£91,884	1.70	N/A	N/A
May 01	£90,382	1.20	N/A	N/A
Apr 01	£89,354	1.50	N/A	N/A
Mar 01	£88,001	0.90	N/A	N/A
Feb 01	£87,212	1.60	N/A	N/A
Jan 01	£85,879	0.30	N/A	N/A

Period Covered	Average House Price	Monthly Change (%)	Annual Change (%)	Official Releases
Nov 11	£160,780	0.30	1.90
Oct 11	£159,999	0.90	3.20
Sep 11	£162,109	0.30	2.60
Aug 11	£162,347	0.30	2.60
Jul 11	£163,049	1.30	2.10
Jun 11	£161,479	0.00	2.50
May 11	£161,823	0.40	2.20
Apr 11	£163,083	0.80	1.30
Mar 11	£160,996	1.10	2.30
Feb 11	£162,215	0.80	1.70
Jan 11	£163,177	0.20	0.90
2010
Dec 10	£163,814	0.20	1.50
Nov 10	£164,773	0.60	2.20
Oct 10	£165,505	0.80	3.40
Sep 10	£166,769	0.20	5.20
Aug 10	£167,423	0.30	6.70
Jul 10	£166,798	0.40	6.70
Jun 10	£166,072	0.10	8.40
May 10	£165,314	0.20	8.20
Apr 10	£165,596	0.20	8.50
Mar 10	£164,288	0.60	7.50
Feb 10	£164,455	0.30	7.00
Jan 10	£165,088	2.10	5.20
2009
Dec 09	£161,783	0.10	2.50
Nov 09	£161,554	0.90	0.30
Oct 09	£159,546	0.60	3.40
Sep 09	£158,377	0.90	5.60
Aug 09	£155,968	0.10	9.40
Jul 09	£155,885	1.70	11.70
Jun 09	£153,046	0.10	14.00
May 09	£152,497	0.20	15.90
Apr 09	£152,898	0.30	16.20
Mar 09	£152,895	0.40	16.20
Feb 09	£153,862	2.00	16.50
Jan 09	£156,753	0.80	15.10
2008
Dec 08	£158,946	2.00	13.50
Nov 08	£161,883	1.90	12.20
Oct 08	£165,529	1.50	10.10
Sep 08	£168,814	2.20	8.00
Aug 08	£174,493	1.90	4.60
Jul 08	£178,364	0.60	2.00
Jun 08	£180,781	1.00	0.10
May 08	£183,266	0.00	1.80
Apr 08	£183,626	0.20	2.70
Mar 08	£184,798	0.40	3.60
Feb 08	£185,616	0.00	5.30
Jan 08	£186,045	0.90	6.40
2007
Dec 07	£184,469	0.40	6.70
Nov 07	£186,009	0.60	8.10
Oct 07	£184,346	0.10	8.10
Sep 07	£183,896	0.40	8.70
Aug 07	£182,914	0.20	9.40
Jul 07	£181,460	0.10	8.80
Jun 07	£181,039	0.40	9.10
May 07	£180,594	0.70	8.90
Apr 07	£179,935	0.60	9.10
Mar 07	£178,423	1.00	8.30
Feb 07	£177,099	1.00	8.50
Jan 07	£174,827	0.90	7.70
2006
Dec 06	£173,717	0.70	7.80
Nov 06	£172,006	0.60	6.80
Oct 06	£171,709	1.20	7.00
Sep 06	£169,569	1.30	6.30

Just below the chart you can select the forecaster(s) and year(s) you want to see and the chart will update automatically. Predictions are noted as 0% where they don’t exist.

As you can see by the predictions made each year since 2004 the performance has generally been mixed and poor on many occasions. It is notoriously hard to predict future house prices but 3 things jump out from these charts:

1. Capital economics is shockingly bad at predicting future house prices – far worse than any other company we have analysed. My personal belief is that they (and in particular Roger Bootle) intentionally made the most bearish estimates to get headlines – they enjoyed the attention they got each year by being so negative about the future prospects of the housing market. Year after year they were proved wrong but the media still return to them for a prediction.
2. Very few forecasters predicted the big downturn in 2008 and the bounce back to positive territory in 2009.
3. There is no one person or company that has made consistently accurate predictions each year. The best of the bunch seem to be the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) in the date range we analysed.

House Price Predictions for 2012 and Beyond

As of today (15/12/11) we don’t have all the house predictions in for 2012 but from the ones we have seen it is interesting to see that:

1. Capital economics seem happy to fit in with the crowd this year and predict a modest 5% decrease next year. With a predicted 7% drop in 2012, Henry Prior & Morgan Stanley have taken the title of modest bearish house price forecasters (so far).
2. Only 2 out of the 10 forecasters are predicting a house price rise in 2012 although only a modest one.

I have also included house price forecasts for 2013 and beyond where they exist. The Knight Frank report on their expectations of house prices until 2021 makes an interesting read – click here to download the pdf

We also publish the monthly house price indices here: http://www.fasttracksales.co.uk/uk-house-prices-chart-tables/

Finally, click here to download the excel spreadsheet showing the see the raw data and sources for the house price forecast graph above.

Here are some things that stick out for me that you may want to check out:

Northern Ireland Roller-Coaster

Compare ‘All properties’ in Northern Ireland with the UK average. It is easy to say that such incredibly steep rise in prices in N Ireland was unsustainable but human nature means that classic boom and bust scenarios like this will happen again and again.

North / South Divide

Compare ‘All properties’ in Greater London and the North from the beginning of 1983. This gives a very clear picture of the growing north south divide in house prices. In 1983 house prices in Greater London were approximately 58% higher on average but as of Q3 2011 they are approximately 138% higher on average. This is a trend that is repeated for all the regions apart from the South East, South West.

Big Correction in Greater London

The size of the house price correction in Greater London after 2007 seems surprisingly big – the absolute numbers are obviously bigger than the UK average but the drop is bigger in percentage terms also. I suspect this is surprising as most house prices graphs shows standardised data whereas this is just averages of the raw data.

If you think I have missed something or have any comments (wise or otherwise) please fill in the form below.

Note: The source of this data is Halifax’s report on house prices by property type. As they make clear the quarterly ‘prices shown in the tables below are arithmetic average prices of houses on which an offer of mortgage has been granted.  These prices are not standardised and therefore can be affected by changes in the sample from quarter to quarter.’ That is why you may notice some difference between these figures and their normal quarterly data which is standardised and is not broken down by property type. Those eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that there is no data for flats in Northern Ireland. The Halifax data had too many quarters without any data for flats in Northern Ireland so we decided to delete this whole section rather than average them over different periods – the ‘all property’ prices are not affected by this.