Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Category:
Property
New figures from property website Hometrack have revealed that house prices in the UK grew at their highest rate for nearly two years in April.
It has been claimed that property prices increased by 0.5 per cent last month, with the average house now costing £162,500.
This growth was primarily driven by London and the south-east, with prices remaining unchanged in 60 per cent of the country and rising by 1.1 per cent in the capital.
The housing market in London seems to be separating from the rest of the UK, with it now taking 4.5 weeks to sell a property in the capital, compared to 9.3 weeks in the East Midlands and 8.4 weeks in Wales.
Whilst house prices have moved higher over April there has been a slowdown in the proportion of postcodes registering price rises.
Given the affordability pressures across the market and limited impetus for house price growth in the regions away from London we expect levels of market activity and growth to slow in the run up to the summer and the World Cup.
The strength of the London market is as a result of demand continuing to exceed supply.
