Highest New Property Supply for 18 Months as Previously Snow-Bound Sellers Return - Rightmove House Price Index March 2010

LONDON, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The UK housing market saw a virtual price standstill in March as new sellers asked an average of just GBP216 (0.1%) more than last month. Between 2002 and 2009 the average monthly increase in March was 1.3%; in contrast this March's rise of just 0.1% is the lowest Rightmove has ever recorded at this time of year. Unsurprisingly, it coincides with a return of sellers, with 34% more properties coming to market compared to March 2009, meaning more competition and less opportunity to increase asking prices.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove explains: "As usual we've seen a winter price lull followed by a New Year bounce, though at a national level it's never previously fizzled out before spring has really sprung. Observers of the market should note that new sellers are up by over a third on March last year and by 17.5% on last month, so in some areas more restrained pricing is required as a direct consequence of buyers having more choice."

The previous lowest rise seen in March, in both 2003 and 2005, was 0.6%. This month's virtual standstill is a little less surprising given the large 3.2% national upswing in February, when the shortage of new stock was exacerbated by people coping with the snow rather than getting their homes on the market. More amenable weather conditions have allowed those who had delayed their sale to now bring their properties to market, contributing to the 105,784 new listings on Rightmove this month. This is up by 15,769 on the number who came to market last month, an increase of 17.5%. However, new stock remains subdued compared to historic norms, still down 26% on the average pre-credit-crunch levels of 2005 to 2008.

Shipside adds: "Snowbound sellers postponed their 2010 moving plans until the thaw, leading to the highest weekly average of properties coming to market since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. It has taken the intervention of nature to give us a reminder of what new property supply levels used to look like before major financial market disruption rewrote the rulebook that had remained broadly unchallenged for a quarter of a century".

For further statistics and to download the Rightmove March 2010 House Price Index please visit - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/house-price-index or search for local house prices at http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

Contact: Tom McGuigan - Rightmove Press Office, [email protected], +44(0)207-087-0700

SOURCE Rightmove Group Ltd