Slight dip in house prices, but demand stays strong in the West

THE average house price edged down by £1,000 in January, from a record high in December, official figures show.

Across the UK, the average property value in January was £249,000, which was down from a record high of £250,000 in December, the Office for National Statistics said. However, the average house price in January was still £17,000 higher than in January 2020.

Annual house price growth was slower in January than it had been in December with UK average house prices increasing by 7.5% over the year to January, compared with an 8% increase in December.

The statistics come as estate agents in the South West report strong interest from property buyers and a shortage of homes for sale.

Ian Lillicrap, of Lillicrap Chilcott estate agents, said he has “thousands”

of people looking to buy in what is the fastest property sales game he’s ever seen in over 40 years.

“The stars have aligned for the UK property market as a whole, but in the case of Cornwall... there are extra factors which have caused the market to be incredibly strong.”

He said the exposure the county has had on television had boosted demand. “I don’t want to overplay it, Cornwall has been a popular place for many years,” he added. “This is not something which has happened in the last week, we had an enormous year in 2020 – despite there being two lockdowns.”

But he said ever since lockdown started his agency has been selling houses without viewings, and they have been flying off the proverbial shelves.

Average house prices increased over the year in England to £267,000.