House prices are rising at fastest rate in four years
THE value of the average home has surged by £17,000 over the past year as the desire for more space drives a dramatic housing market recovery.
Property prices are rising at the fastest pace since the Brexit vote more than four years ago, the Halifax revealed yesterday.
The 7.3 per cent annual jump means the average has hit a record and is now £249,870. This compares with £232,806 in September last year.
House prices rose 1.6 per cent last month, the third consecutive month of growth since the market was temporarily locked down to curb the spread of the virus.
The Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, said it had received more applications from both first-time buyers and home movers over the past three months than at any time since 2008.
Russell Galley, the bank’s managing director, said the market had been ‘extremely strong since lockdown restrictions began to ease in May’.
He added: ‘There has been a fundamental shift in demand from buyers brought about by the structural effects of increased home working and a desire for more space, while the stamp duty holiday is incentivising vendors and buyers to close deals at pace before the break ends next March.’
Estate agents report a huge increase in demand from home buyers for more space and bigger gardens. The shift to working from home has given buyers the flexibility to move further from the office. This is backed up by a separate report from property website Rightmove, which shows searches for homes in small towns, villages and civil parishes has more than doubled over the last year.
Top of the wish list is the village of Lightwater in Surrey, followed by Bruton in Somerset.
Rightmove said this cannot be dismissed as idle browsing, with many searches turning into sales.
Properties in Dartmouth, Devon, saw the biggest annual rise in sales, soaring 179 per cent. The analysis is based on 448million property searches last month.
Tim Bannister, from Rightmove, said: ‘Back in May when the market reopened in England we wondered how long the desire to move to the country or to smaller towns would last. It’s clear that this has turned into a mediumterm trend.’
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors also said that house price growth is ‘accelerating right across the UK’, with inquiries, sales and new listings all rising.
But experts are worried that this may fizzle out. The chief concern is that the closure of the Government’s furlough scheme at the end of the month will trigger a surge in unemployment.
Mr Galley, from the Halifax, called the release of pent- up demand and the stamp duty holiday ‘temporary fillips’. He warned that ‘significant downward pressure on house prices should be expected in the months ahead’.