POLES APART ON THE SALE SCALE

ues to grow at a modest pace, with the unemployment rate and borrowing costs remaining close to current levels, we would expect UK house prices to rise at a low singledigit pace in 2019.”

Mr Gardner said the North-South house price divide in England narrowed in 2018.

He said: “This trend was not entirely unexpected, however, as it followed several years of sustained outperformance by the South (especially London and Outer Metropolitan) which left affordability more stretched in these areas…

“The price of a typical home in the south of England (£329,240) is still almost double that in the North (£166,642).”

Howard Archer, chief economic adviser at EY ITEM Club, said: “The THE most expensive house sold in Britain in November – a terraced property in Westminster – sold for £39 million, according to figures from the Land Registry.

Below are the most expensive and cheapest properties sold in the West that month:

Most Expensive (19 properties were at £1 million-plus)

Brook House, Castle Combe, Wiltshire – a detached house that sold for £2,865,000

10 Bury Road, Poole, Dorset – a detached house that sold for £2.1 million

Brooklands, Wimborne, Poole – detached house that sold for £1.7 million

Lower Swainswick House, Gloucester Road, Bath – detached house, sold for £1,637,500

124 Golf Links Road, Ferndown, East Dorset – detached house, sold for £1,550,000 housing market ended 2018 very much on the back foot.

“Brexit and economic uncertainty may well have an increased dampening on housing market activity in the near term at least.”

Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and a former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said of Nationwide’s figures: “Unfortunately, they

Berwick House, Burton Bradstock, West Dorset – detached house, sold for £1,460,000

16 Beaconsfield Road, Clifton, Bristol – terraced house, sold for £1,415,000

222 Sandbanks Road, Poole – detached house, sold for £1.4m

33 Lakeside Road, Poole – detached house, sold for £1,350,000

Hillside Cottage, Cleeve Hill, Gloucestershire – detached house, sold for £1,298,000.

Least Expensive

Flat 2, St Whites Court, Buckshaft Road, Cinderford, Gloucestershire – sold for £55,000 (this sale may have been a buy-to-let, a transfer to a company, or a repossession)

6 The Olde Winding Wheel, Coleford Road, Bream, Gloucestershire – flat that sold for £64,500 are confirming a bit of a wake-up call for the housing market in that after steady progress, without much change one way or the other, prices have experienced a nasty bump.”

He said: “Looking forward, this is always a fairly quiet time anyway for the market, so the reasonable start we have had to business won’t be seen in the figures for at least the next month or so.”

164 Rosebery Avenue, Yeovil, Somerset – flat, sold for £65,000

Flat 40, Homechester House, High West Street, Dorchester, Dorset – flat, sold for £67,000

Flat 4, 6 Glendinning Avenue, Weymouth, Dorset – flat, sold for £67,500 (may have been a buy-to-let, a transfer to a company or a repossession)

9 Royal Mews, Dorchester, Dorset – flat, sold for £70,000

65 Coltishall Close, Quedgeley, Gloucester – flat, sold for £72,000

Ground Floor Flat, Portland Terrace, Watchet, Somerset – flat, sold for £75,000

22 Blenheim Court,

Shakespeare Road, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire – flat, sold for £75,000

Apartment 3, Tomkinsons Court, 46 East Street, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire – flat, sold for £75,000 (may have been a buy-to-let, a transfer to a company or a repossession).

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: “Lenders remain keen to lend and mortgage deals are competitive.

“As long as borrowers can meet affordability criteria, whether they are taking out a new mortgage or switching to another deal, there will be plenty to attract them for a while yet.”