House prices top £211k

Posted: 19 Jun 2006 08:49:18 GMT

The average house price in England and Wales is now £211,442 after particularly strong growth in London.

According to Rightmove, asking prices in the period from mid-May to early June climbed by 6.4 per cent when compared to last year, representing the strongest increase since the March/April survey in 2005.

The survey also suggests that asking prices were up 0.8 per cent from the previous month, following a two per cent increase in the April/May survey.

Several other reports in the last month have indicated that house price growth is beginning to slow, with homebuyers apparently perturbed by predictions of interest rate hikes.

But while this new report points to continued growth, it seems that the gap in house prices between the north and south of the country is again widening, having narrowed consistently for four years.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove's commercial director, argued that this is due to the buoyancy of the southern economy and demand for property from the most affluent buyers.

As more sellers begin to take advantage of this buoyancy, however, there is every chance that house price growth will again ease as demand weakens.


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