House prices are 3 per cent higher than a year ago with the average home now worth £230,078, according to LSL Acadametrics.
The rise is £6,700 over the year but if you take London out of the statistics the price rise would be just £1,117.
On a monthly basis the average house price rose by 0.2 per cent or £532 and prices have only fallen once in the past 16 months.
David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services, says these figures signal that the housing market is now well clear of the storm clouds of the financial crisis. The situation has become marginally easier for first-time buyers and house sales are increasing.
But Brown says there is still a long way to go: “Mortgage availability is poor by historic standards. There is an army of first-time buyers trying to enter the housing market but they are being held back by tough mortgage criteria.
“Thankfully the government’s new initiatives inspire confidence, most notably the Help to Buy scheme, which should prove to be a real helping hand.
Brown believes the key to the recovery of the housing market is more mortgages for first-time buyers.
He commented: “The Funding for Lending Scheme has gone some way to doing that. It has eased the pressure on the market, allowing lenders to lower mortgage rates which have helped boost the first-time buyer market. But it needs to be increased in scale if it is to have a more significant effect.
“Sadly, the improvements in mortgage availability, prices and sales have not been spread evenly across England and Wales. Big regional disparities remain. The market in the South East, particularly London, is going great guns, but less affluent areas are struggling.
“While the north is showing less resilience, having experienced the largest fall in house prices, areas in the South including Brighton, Surrey, Bristol and Cardiff have seen prices soar.
“The fast rate of growth seen in London has pushed the annual rise in England and Wales, to 3%. But take London out of the equation and price growth is just 0.5%. ”
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