The average house price of new build property in the UK has increased by 12 per cent over the past five years with the average price now at £233,822, according to analysis from Halifax.
Nationally, there has been an increase of 40 per cent, from £166,473 over the past 10 years. Regionally, the biggest rise in the past decade has been in Greater London where the average price for a new home has risen by 57 per cent to £415,540.
The north-south divide is as prevalent in the price of the new homes market as it is in the overall market. Over the past five years, more than half of UK regions saw the average price of new homes fall, with the north experiencing the greatest fall of 10 per cent to an average of £157,190.
In 2012, flats were the most popular type of new property sold (37 per cent), followed by terraced homes (24 per cent) and detached properties (23 per cent). Yorkshire and the Humber had the greatest proportion of terraced properties sold (30 per cent), with Greater London seeing the highest proportion of sales of new build flats in 2012 (88 per cent).
Craig McKinlay, new mortgages director for Halifax said: “In a relatively flat housing market, the new homes market has changed enormously over the past five years.
“We have seen a lot of positive sentiment towards the new homes market, with various schemes launched to get the house building industry moving and changes in policies and deposit requirements allowing shared equity buyers to participate more fully in the new build market.
“We are continuing to increase the number of builders we are working with and it is a testament to our commitment to put the purchase of a new-build home back within the grasp of both first time buyers and homemovers.”
NewBuy scheme
Halifax is a leading affordable housing lender and one of the biggest supporters of the NewBuy scheme. One year on since the launch of a range of mortgages to support the New uy Scheme, Halifax has signed up its 64th house builder partner representing 90 individual builder brands.
To date, Halifax has helped around 1,900 buyers purchase through NewBuy, representing one in three of all applications and completions on the scheme.
In addition to nationwide builders, Halifax has partnered with smaller local and regional builders through a multi-user cell network. This ensures that lower volume builders can also participate in the scheme.