Average UK house price soars to record £230,700
HOUSE prices have shot up to record levels this summer, experts have revealed.
The average UK property price in June hit a new high of £230,700, said website Zoopla.
In December 2020, the average was £177,300.
Property values are 5.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Stock shortages are helping to push up prices, with a 25 per cent fall in the volume of homes for sale in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2020, Zoopla said.
Looking at property types, the search for space has pushed up the average price of a house by 7.3 per cent over the past year, it was said.
By contrast, demand for flats has failed to keep pace and, as a result, price growth is lagging at 1.4 per cent, the figures revealed.
Grainne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said: “Demand for houses is still outstripping demand for flats.
“To a certain extent this trend will have been augmented by the stamp duty holiday, with bigger savings on offer for larger properties, typically houses.
“There is a continued drumbeat of demand for more space among buyers, both inside and outside, funnelling demand towards houses, resulting in stronger price growth for these properties.”
It comes as figures reveal house prices have nearly tripled in the past 20 years, making up for any value homeowners may have lost during the global financial crisis.
The average home in Britain is now worth £163,700 more than it was in 2001.