Halifax says “house prices” rose in December 2023, monthly, quarterly and yearly.
Rightmove’s December 2023 index says they fell, monthly and yearly.
Question: Why would sellers be lowering asking prices across the board if actual house prices were rising?
Think about it. Then you decide.
My view: You are being gaslit by the debt salesmen.
They are incorrectly conflating “house prices” with the “average transaction value” which is skewed by changing transaction volumes.
They are compounding this in their commentary with disingenuous guff.
At least they say “Our latest forecast suggests house prices could fall between -2% and -4% during the coming year” but that won’t get reported.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Also please pose this question to anyone who tells you house prices are rising.
Asking prices, which the RM index reports, are the very last thing to turn negative when house prices are falling, so they are also the strongest indicator of what’s happening when they are negative, even though they still understate the true picture because their index is excludes price reductions.
Fighting the stupidity of the dimwit, innumerate commentators is exhausting.
But someone has to do it. Otherwise people get hurt by negative equity. (Remember, even Halifax is predicting house price falls this year).
This is why we need an all-new, open-source house price index. Hold my beer…