Queen’s reign and prices of UK houses

House prices are more than 130 times higher than they were when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952, 70 years ago, or almost four times higher when a taking inflation into account, according to research by property firm Savills, to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Savills analysis of how the housing market has fared over the past 70 years found that when the Queen came to the throne on February 6 1952, the average house price was just under £2,000. This is the equivalent of £56,000 in today’s money.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, says: “House price growth over the past 70 years has meant that the nation’s housing stock has become a vast source of household wealth during the Queens reign. But the ability to benefit from this has largely been dependent on the year you were born, meaning the capital appreciation we have seen through different housing market cycles has created a marked divide between the housing haves and have nots.

“Different generations now have very different views on the benefits of house price growth, how much new housing we build, where we build it and what is expected from housing policy.

“Over the Queen’s reign there have been six periods where annualised price growth has been over five per cent which have lead us to this point. While this has been punctuated by a series of relatively short-lived downturns, the upswings have been magnified by a systemic undersupply of housing over the past 40 years.”

Savills also identified the streets in Yorkshire with royal connections that command the highest premiums. At the top is Queen Parade in Harrogate with an average house price of £487,403; Queens Drive, Ilkley, £487,129 and Queens Way, Rotherham, £344,438.