22 December 06 House prices up 5.7% over the year - strength of London bounce-back drives values 12.1% higher
Average house prices grew by 0.3% over December, down from 0.6% in November. With the December increase, house price growth over 2006 totalled 5.7% - the highest rate of year on year growth for almost two and a half years.
The strength of London bounce-back should not be under estimated...
The strength of the 2006 market is directly related to the bounce-back in London prices. Lack of supply but no shortage of demand from would-be buyers lies behind the headline figures. The highest growth was seen in the prime London markets where values grew by in excess of 20% over the year.
Across the country the picture is a very different one...
After London, growth over the year was highest in the South East (5.5%) and East Anglia (4.7%). In contrast most other regions have seen relatively low levels of price increases with the North (+0.5%) and the East Midlands (+0.7%) reporting the lowest levels. In direct contrast to London, the housing markets in these areas have been characterised by supply and pricing exceeding demand.
And looking ahead to 2007...
Overall Hometrack expect average house prices to rise by 4% over 2007 with the strongest growth expected once more in London and the South East, but a question mark remains over the potential for growth outside the equity driven prime housing markets of central London.
| Headline statistics | Dec-06 |
| Weighted Overall Average Price | £170,100 |
| Weighted Overall Average Price Change | 0.3% |
| Change in number of new properties listed | -0.1% |
| Change in no. of sales agreed | 0.0% |
| Sales price as a % of asking price | 95.1% |
| Change in number of new buyers registered | -0.1% |
| Time taken to sell (weeks) | 6.7 |
| Average number of viewings per sale | 10.3 |