UK house prices continue on upward trend
Official figures on Tuesday showed continued “strong growth” in UK house prices, with average values up 6.2 per cent in the year to January.
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Olympic legacy
Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, said the London Olympics in 2012 were still having an effect on London house prices.“The Olympic legacy is still having a massive impact on the region,” he said. “Waltham Forest and Newham have both struck gold with the highest annual average price rises of anywhere in England.“These were boroughs in need of regeneration, and families and first-time buyers are now moving there thanks to the improvements in infrastructure and local amenities.“Of course, this will be galling to many homeowners in the rest of the country who haven’t seen any positive impact from staging the Olympics.“They will be thinking why them and not us. Londoners have already enjoyed massive house price rises without getting a helping hand from the Olympic effect.“Overall, January was a strong month for UK house prices and we saw a surge in sellers marketing their properties.“The worry will be that now a date for Article 50 has been announced, the housing market may hit the buffers. Although the doom-mongers were saying that about Brexit, and the slowdown never materialised.“It seems the UK property market is proving remarkably resilient to shock economic news, and there’s no reason it can’t absorb the fallout over the coming months from Article 50 being triggered.”Housing shortage continues
Jeremy Duncombe, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said, “As house prices begin 2017 on an upwards curve, our country’s housing problem continues to worsen.“This gap is only going to widen if prices continue to follow this trend, preventing many from taking their first steps onto the property ladder.“The root of this ongoing problem lies with supply not being able to keep up with demand. To put it simply, we are not building enough homes. Although the government’s recent housing white paper promised change, we need to start seeing these promises being delivered against. It is vital we start addressing these problems head on and find a workable solution to this major issue.”Richard Snook, a senior economist at PwC, predicted that house price growth over 2017 could be anywhere between 2 and 5 per cent.Get access to our free Global Mobility Toolkit©2024 Re:locate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.