Confidence abounds in the north­ern regions while the green shoots of recovery are increasingly evident in the south, according to Home.co.uk’s November Asking Price Index.

The property website has found that overall, the UK property sales market is in good shape, with current growth driven mainly by the northern power­house regions and the latest rate cut by the Bank of England.

Above-infla­tion growth may well return to London and the southern regions next year. Most importantly, properties are moving through the market with ease as demand has increased sufficiently to match heightened supply.

The tailwind of lower borrowing costs will undoubtedly boost activity further. However, the stamp duty hike announced in Labour’s first budget is clearly a step in the wrong direction.

Such a move will only compound fundamental supply issues in the rental market by deter­ring much-needed investment. Conse­quently, chronic scarcity will continue to drive rents even higher.

The northern regions of England, the West Midlands, Scotland and Wales have enjoyed significant home price growth over the last twelve months. These infla­tion-beating gains are supporting the national figures and are in stark contrast to the lacklustre performance of the southern and eastern regions including London.

The regional growth leader is the North East which continues its impres­sive run, with the mix-adjusted average now 6.9% higher than a year ago. The better rental yields in the North have clearly had a significant effect on inves­tors’ appetites.

Overall, UK asking rent growth is keeping pace with inflation (1.1%), but this annualised national growth figure obscures huge dif­ferences regionally between Greater London at -3.9% and the two best per­formers, Wales (+15.2%) and Yorkshire (+14.4%).

The annualised mix-adjusted average asking price growth (sales) across Eng­land and Wales is now 2.0%; in Novem­ber 2023, the annualised growth of home prices was -1.6%.