» House prices rise to record levels

Highest prices in a decade

Article Published: 20th January 2014

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A new set of figures from Rightmove show that house prices reached their biggest leap in January in more than a decade. The rise is shown to be by around 6.3 per cent in a year. The asking prices across England and Wales have increased by one per cent month-on-month. The average house price is now set to be an average of £243,861, the biggest monthly jump since 2002. This would that the average home has seen its value rise by just under £2,450 in January. There were more than 1.75 million enquiries in the first two weeks of the year.

The “Help to Buy” scheme, the increase in demand and the lack of affordable homes is said to be fuelling the demand. The asking prices in London have shown to have risen by a 7.0 per cent increase making the average asking price around £514,704.

Most other regions in the country also saw an increase with Yorkshire and the Humber showing the second strongest annual rise at 6.8 per cent and Wales’s figure increased by 6.2 per cent. Most areas saw an increase, although the north of England did see asking prices fall by a tiny 0.1 per cent.

Many people in the industry believe that the Help to Buy scheme should be scrapped in London arguing that prices in the capital and the South-East have hit ‘absurd’ levels.