North-South gap shrinks but first-time buyers face eight-year wait

HOUSE PRICES ended the year 2.6 per cent higher than last January, with London identified as the UK’s weakest-performing region for the first time since 2004, and Yorkshire only slightly better.

Taken across the UK, the average price in December was £211,156, Nationwide Building Society said.

The annual rise was the slowest since 2012, and compared with a 4.5 per cent annual increase in 2016.

But in a slight weakening of the North-South divide, prices in the Northern half of England grew at a faster rate those in than in the South for the first time since 2008.

The average property price in Yorkshire is now £151,747 – just 1.8 per cent more than a year ago – while in the West Midlands, where prices increased by more than five per cent last year, the average cost is £182,861.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said the past year had seen “the beginnings of a shift” towards the North.

He said: “London saw a particularly marked slowdown, with prices falling in annual terms for the first time in eight years, albeit by a modest 0.5 per cent.

“London ended the year the weakest-performing region for the first time since 2004.”

Mr Gardner said a 20 per cent deposit in London was now typically more than £80,000 for a first-time buyer – about £30,000 more than a decade ago.

Deposit requirements in the North were still at similar levels to 2007 prices, he said.

Nationwide calculated that would-be buyers have to save for eight years to raise a deposit, rising to nearly ten years in London.