Flat prices have grown by 53% in the last seven years compared with growth of 39% for all property types, according to Halifax.

That’s an average rise of £84,644 (£1,008 per month) in the past seven years from £159,292 in 2009 to £243,936 in 2016.
 
A considerable proportion of the national rise in flat prices since 2009 is due to the rapid increase in flat prices in London (65%), where flats represent just under half (48%) of all sales compared with the UK average of 11%.

The average price of a flat in London is £398,038, meaning that buyers are on average paying £230,894 more than flat buyers in the rest of the UK (£167,144).

Terraced homes boost

Terraced homes recorded the next largest increase in average prices with a rise of 43% over the past seven years, and detached homes the smallest rise (19%).

A typical terraced home costs less than £125,000 – below the lowest stamp duty threshold – in the North (£121,363) and Wales (£123,095) and less than £150,000 in all other regions outside southern England.

Flats cost less than £125,000, on average, in the North (£116,855), Yorkshire and the Humber (£124,734) and East Midlands (£123,561).

Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “Nationally, terraced and semi-detached homes are the most affordable and popular homes with buyers accounting for 60% of sales during 2016. However average price growth for flats, helped by the London market, have outperformed all other property types since 2009.

“There has been an increasing trend for first-time buyers to choose semi-detached homes over the past seven years, whilst terraced homes have shown a decline in popularity. The rise in the age of a typical first-time buyer may partly account for this change in preference towards the family-friendly semi.”