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First-time Buyers

House prices now £34k above peak

Adam Williams
Written By:
Adam Williams
Posted:
Updated:
13/03/2015

The average house price in England and Wales is now more than £34,000 above the peak level recorded in February 2008.

Research from property firms Your Move and Reeds Rains found the average price had risen to £273,528.

This is £34,192 above the figure recorded at the peak of the housing market in February 2008.

More than half of that growth has taken place in the last year with property prices growing 6.8% in the last 12 months, equivalent to £17,340.

However the market is now starting to slow due to a variety of reasons including the upcoming general election and affordability problems in London and surrounding areas.

The number of completed home sales in the opening two months of 2015 was 9% lower than a year ago.

Adrian Gill, director of Reeds Rains and Your Move estate agents, said the market was beginning to cool.

“We’re performing well by yesterday’s standards, but we’ve got to keep an eye on the trajectory of our current recovery,” he said. “Average house prices are currently 6.8% (£17,340) higher than they were last year – but this is the smallest annual increase witnessed for fourteen months, as the market mellows from the extraordinary noise of the past year.

“After storming ahead of the rest of the country in the whirlwind of last year, the conditions have calmed in London and the South East.

“The capital has already had the first taste of added pressure placed on prime property in the form of revised stamp duty, and the £1.5m to £5m slice of the market has also been hit by cold feet in the run up to the general election, with the threat of a potential mansion tax.

“This let-up of high-end activity has brought down the average London house price, but beneath the surface, the lower rungs of the ladder are thriving. For instance, the borough of Newham – where the typical property value currently stands at £273,727 – saw an enviable 2.1% monthly price rise, more than double the overall 1.0% average London price jump.”