House Prices Record High

House Prices Record High.

Despite a slowdown in the London property market, house prices in England and Wales have hit a new high for the fourth time this year. The average house price in England and Wales is now £277,178 which is a rise since April of 0.4% according to the LSL house price index.

The fall in house prices in London where in some areas are around 15% lower than this time last year, we attribute to the higher stamp duty costs for more valuable properties. In addition, the continued rise in property prices for the rest of the UK is being driven by continued lower interest rates, increased employment as well as government stimulus with the help to buy scheme at the bottom end of the market which is feeding upwards to the mid property market.

Whilst we do not see house prices falling for most of the UK for the next couple of years we do see a slowdown in the rate of increase and we predict average property prices to rise at around the 5% per annum mark for the next two years.