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House prices up 6.7% in November taking average property value to £218k

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
17/01/2017

House prices in the UK increased by 6.7% in the year to November, taking the average property value to £217,928, according to official figures.

Month-on month prices rose by 1.1% from £215,635 in October, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The main contributor to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where prices increased by 7.2% over the year to November, with the average property in England now costing £234,000.

Wales saw house prices increase by 4.1% over the last 12 months taking the average property value to £147,000.

In Scotland, the average price increased by 3.3% to £143,000 and the average price in Northern Ireland currently stands at £124,000, from £119,000 a year earlier.

London house prices rose by 8.1%, taking the average property value to £481,648.

‘Housing market has proved resilient’

Alex Gosling, chief executive of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, said: “November was a strong month for property prices, which goes against all the predictions that prices would stutter in the months following the EU vote.

“In fact, the market has proved extremely resilient to shock economic news, so it will be interesting to see how it reacts over the coming weeks after Theresa May lays out her plans for a hard Brexit.

“In the end, life goes on, and people still need to move. There are plenty of buyers out there looking to purchase, and not enough properties to go around.

“That should help support prices, and in the short term it’s unlikely that confidence will be dented by the PM’s Brexit announcement as it won’t come as a surprise to many.

“That said, the first quarter of 2017 will be a crucial period for property prices and we need to see buyers making offers not waiting for Article 50 to be triggered before purchasing. The last thing we need right now are transaction numbers to dry up.”

Average house price, by English region, January 2004 to November 2016 – (source: ONS)

Figure 4- Average house price, by English region, January 2004 to November 2016

Separate figures released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show home-owners borrowed £11bn for house purchases in November, up 5% month-on-month and 2% year-on-year. They took out 60,800 loans, up 5% on October and up 0.2% on November 2015.

First-time buyers borrowed £4.7bn, up 4% on October and 9% on November last year, while home movers borrowed £6.3bn, up 7% on a month ago but down 5% compared to a year ago.

Remortgage activity totalled £5.8bn, down 5% on October but up 14% compared to a year ago.