HPI figures for July show the East of England leading the way with growth.
The East of England leads the way in regional price growth over the last 12 months, according to the house price index published by the Land Registry.
July’s figures show that house prices in the East of England increased by 13.2%, while Yorkshire and The Humber saw the lowest annual price growth at a rate of 4.7%.
London shows an annual price increase of 12.3%, seeing an average property value of £484,716. Monthly house prices rose by 1% from June.
The data shows an annual price increase of 8.3%, taking the average UK property value to £216,750.
Jeremy Duncombe, director, Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “Today’s figures are further reassurance that the mortgage market has recovered from the period of uncertainty surrounding the vote to leave the EU. House prices continue to rise annually as more potential buyers saturate the market. However, it is important to remember that this can be seen as a tale of two (or more) cities, as the country is experiencing house price growth at drastically different rates.”
A breakdown of figures show a month-on-month increase of 0.5% for prices in England and a month-on-month fall of 1.8% for property values in Wales.
In England, the July data shows an annual price increase of 9.1%, taking the average property value to £232,885, while in Wales an annual price increase of 4% takes the average property value to £144,828.
Duncombe added: “Although London house prices are sky rocketing, this trend is not being replicated regionally. While the capital is experiencing double digit growth, house prices in areas such as Northern Ireland are growing, but remain around 15-20% lower than they were prior to the 2007 credit crunch. In order to help curb this issue we need to see a strong commitment to investing in new housing across the country, and not just in choice areas such as the South East.”
“Recent announcements suggest that the new Government appears determined to tackle the housing crisis, however hopefully we will not have to wait until the Autumn Statement in November to see a real plan of action materialise.”
John Goodall, CEO and co-founder of Landbay, said: “Between stamp duty changes and the EU referendum, 2016 was always going to be a year of two halves for the UK housing market. The first led to a flurry of house purchases, stoking up demand and prices in the process, but the second has yet to prove quite so dramatic. House prices continued to grow steadily in July, the first full month of post Brexit-vote data and bar a dramatic injection of new housing stock, there’s little to suggest economic or political factors are going to reverse this trend anytime soon.
“One thing the Brexit outcome has done for the housing market, is lead the Bank of England to cut interest rates, resulting in some of the lowest mortgage borrowing costs this country has ever seen. This will improve affordability for first time buyers, and take some of the sting out of house price increases, but amid heightened demand, rents are also rising, by 0.12% last month according to our own rental index. All together these factors point to a healthy buy to let market, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some professional landlords saw this as a buying opportunity.”
UK home sales fell by 0.9% in July 2016 compared to the previous month, meaning home sales on a monthly basis remain below levels seen in 2014 and 2015 and before the stamp duty changes in early 2016.
