The first official house prices figures of 2017 have revealed strong growth for UK house values from January last year to January 2017.
Average house values saw quite the jump of 6.2% from January to January as typical UK house prices rose to £218,225 making a £13,000 leap across the year.
According to the recent statistics, all regions of the UK saw a significant rise with England seeing the largest increase of 6.5% and 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% and 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%. However, the regions of London (£419,000) and the South East (£319,000) continue to lead the table as 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.”
Quirk also mentioned that he does not expect Brexit to have the impact that some are predicting on house prices, stating that the “triggering of Article 50 is predicted by some as an apocalyptic end to the world, but 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.”
While 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 now have to pay 5.8% more for a home than they would have done this time last year as the average property price for this demographic recently broke the £180,000 mark.
