UK city house price inflation was 2.9% in the year to January 2019, according to Hometrack. Price swings ranged from 6% in Leicester to -1.6% in Aberdeen.
The annual rate of growth has continued to moderate however, and 13 cities now have lower price growth than a year ago.
Prices are rising fastest in Leicester (6.0%) followed by Belfast (5.8%) and Manchester (5.4%). Prices continue to fall in Aberdeen (-1.6%) where average values are £34,000 lower than mid-2015 at the time of the collapse in the oil price. London house price inflation is virtually flat at +0.2%.
The sharpest slowdown in the rate of growth was registered in Edinburgh, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Bristol. Bristol, for example, is recording annual house price growth of 1.8%, the lowest rate for over five years as affordability pressures impact demand. It is a similar story in Portsmouth, Bournemouth and other cities across southern England.
The weakest housing markets have the longest sales periods and the largest discounts – currently Aberdeen and Inner London where discounts to asking price average 7% and the time to sell is 16 weeks. Nottingham has the strongest market indicators with an average asking price discount of just 2% and less than eight weeks to achieve a sale. House price growth is holding steady at 4.6%.