Home prices rise reversing three months of stagnation as Brexit marks first anniversary
HOUSE prices delivered a Brexit anniversary bounce this month as they hit another record high.
House prices have hit a record high after three months of stagnation
The cost of a typical three bed semi is now £211,301, the first time it has breached the £210,000 threshold.
The hike, which comes a year after Britain’s vote to leave the EU, reversed three months of stagnation.
It also saw the gap between the UK’s strongest and weakest-performing areas narrow to its smallest since records began in the 1970s.
London prices grew at the second slowest in the country as buyers sought homes in more affordable regions.
Growth is now spread much more evenly across the country with some regions seeing intense competition from buyers and the return of gazumping
The figures from Britain’s biggest building society the Nationwide were welcomed by industry experts. Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Garrington Property Finders, said: “First came Britain’s electoral map, then its property map.
June has seen both redrawn.
“Growth is now spread much more evenly across the country with some regions seeing intense competition from buyers and the return of gazumping.”
The cost of a typical three bed semi is now £211,301
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Mr Hopper added, however, that the growth may not be due to rising demand so much as “chronic lack of supply” in the market.
Average UK property values increased by 1.1 per cent month-on-month in June, the strongest uplift since 1.2 per cent in April 2015.
Growth also accelerated on an annual basis, with a 3.1 per cent increase in June. East Anglia has seen the strongest yearly growth of five per cent, followed by the South-west at 4.4 per cent and the North-west and the East Midlands at 4.1.
The weakest annual growth was in the North -east at 1.1 per cent, followed by London at 1.2 per cent and Wales with 1.4.
Prices in Northern Ireland rose 3.8 per cent and in Scotland by 1.7. Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said the price divide was narrowing as buyers looked away from London, either for investment properties or for places to commute from.
London prices grew at the second slowest in the country as buyers sought homes in more affordable re
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He said: “A city such as Birmingham is just over an hour away, for example, with people prepared to commute for that long if it means a more affordable property.”
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist of consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said prices were “broadly steady” despite the renewed squeeze on real wages.
Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner predicted household spending could slow down as rising inflation squeezed budgets.
But he added: “The subdued level of building activity and the shortage of properties are likely to provide support for prices.”