London and Northern Ireland house prices surge
Friday, 13 Oct 2006 08:39
London, Northern Ireland and Scotland lead house rises in house price growth
Record-breaking house price growth in Northern Ireland, rapid rises in Scotland and strong growth in London are pushing up the UK's house prices, Nationwide reports.
In its look at regional house prices over the last three months, the building society finds the UK's house price growth is now at 2.1 per cent, putting the annual change up to 6.9 per cent.
However, house price growth in Northern Ireland in the last year is more than 25 per cent above this figure, breaking all records.
"House prices in Northern Ireland increased by an incredible 33.4 per cent in the last twelve months. This is the fastest ever rate of growth in Northern Ireland and almost five times faster than the average for the UK," commented Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s group economist.
"A strong jobs market, high levels of immigration and a booming housing market in the Republic of Ireland have helped to contribute to this. House prices in the parts of the province closest to the border have increased most quickly.
"This could be due to lower house prices north of the border attracting demand from the Republic. The average price of a house in the Republic of Ireland is over £200,000 compared with the Northern Ireland average of £159,859."
Nationwide finds the price of a typical house has increased to £168,460, up from £157,627 this time last year, a price increase of £30 per day.
Commenting on the overall picture for the UK, Ms Earley added: "House prices increased in every region of the UK over the last twelve months, supported by robust economic conditions and high levels of immigration across all parts of the UK.
"Northern Ireland and Scotland continued to see double digit house price growth, but Wales lagged behind the average for the UK with an annual rate of 4.6 per cent.
"Within the English regions, the London market was the best performer with annual house price growth of 7.3 per cent. The northern region, where prices increased by only 0.8 per cent, saw the slowest growth in house prices of anywhere in the UK."
The survey finds that though house prices grew strongly across all parts of London, the largest growth was found in the most expensive part of the capital - inner London west, comprising Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, City of London, Camden and Wandsworth.
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