UK house prices have appeared to defy economic gravity over the past 12 months. According to Nationwide Building Society, property prices rose 13.4% in the year to June, the fastest pace since November 2004.
Britain’s biggest building society said the average house price increased to £245,432.00 from £216,403.00 back in June 2020.
Nationwide based the findings on its own mortgage data. It said while the rapid annual growth was partly due to prices being “unusually weak” during the first lockdown last year, the market continued to “show significant momentum”.
Rates of increase across the UK
All parts of the UK saw a rise in house prices in the second quarter of 2021, with Northern Ireland and Wales experiencing the largest year-on-year increases of 14% and 13.1% respectively.
The slowest rate of price growth was seen in Scotland, where property values increased by 7.1%, while London was England’s weakest performing region, with prices rising 7.3%.
The outer metropolitan region around the capital, including commuter towns such as Watford, Luton, Woking and Sevenoaks, recorded annual growth of 8.2%.
The outer South-East region, which includes cities such as Brighton and Hove, Winchester, Oxford and Southampton, posted gains of 10.9%, the first time the area has recorded double-digit growth since 2014. In the South-West, house price growth reached its highest level since 2010, with prices up 10.4% year on year.
What next for UK house prices?
The buoyancy of the market in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was no doubt triggered by the introduction of the Stamp Duty Holiday by the Chancellor last July. The boom has also been partially attributed to an exodus from big cities such as London, with home movers seeking more space and preferring rural locations following the experience of numerous lockdowns and working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, with life slowly adjusting back to the pre-pandemic days and the tax break now tapering off, the speed of growth is expected to slow down, particularly when the tax breaks return completely to the pre-pandemic levels at the beginning of October.
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The content of this article is for general information only. The information in this article is not legal or professional advice. If you require legal or professional advice you should obtain independent expert advice from qualified property solicitors such as those within our firm.
