The first official house price figures have revealed strong growth for UK house values in 2016.
Average house values saw quite the jump of 6.2% from January to January. The typical UK house prices rose to £218,225 making a £13,000 leap across the year.
Regional Variation
According to the recent statistics, all regions of the UK saw a significant rise, with England seeing the largest increase of 6.5%, reaching an average price of £235,000. Northern Ireland wasn’t too far behind and boasted an increase of 5.7% to £125,000. The average house price in Wales reached £146,000 rising by 4.2%. Scotland saw similar activity with a 4% boost to its average prices and now stands at £142,000.
When examining the different regions of England, it was the East of England that reported the largest growth at 9.4%. Property in London (£419,000) and the South East (£319,000) are the highest priced regions of the country.
Chief Executive of eMoov, Russell Quirk offered some comments on the results. He said “Although mortgage based indices like Halifax and Nationwide offer an indication on how the market is behaving, this first set of 2017 data from the Government provides a concrete look on how the market has emerged from an up and down 2016.
“Prices have continued their upward trend and the market looks strong heading into 2017.”
The Brexit Effect
Quirk went on to state that he does not expect Brexit to have the impact that some are predicting. He states that the “triggering of Article 50 is predicted by some as an apocalyptic end to the world. However there’s also a chance it will further stabilise the market as the current period of Brexit limbo experienced since last June will finally come to a close.
“In many cases, the uncertainty of an outcome can be far more detrimental than the outcome itself and it is clear that many buyers and sellers have been holding tight on a sale until a decision is made.”
It is still unclear how the UK property market will perform throughout the rest of 2017. Early signs are positive for current homeowners with forecasts indicating a average rise of 3.5% for the UK throughout the year. However, first time buyers will have to pay 5.8% more for a home than they would have done this time last year. This is due to the average property price for this demographic recently broke the £180,000 mark.
