Average UK house prices have broken through the £300,000 barrier for the first time as demand continues to soar, new figures show.
According to Rightmove, average house prices increased to £303,190 in March, up 1.3% from £299,287 in February.
Average prices have jumped by more than £100,000 in the past decade. In contrast, average wage growth has gone up 22% over the same period.
Rightmove said the rise was being driven by Momentum spreading across the north and west of the country.
Six out of 10 regions achieved record asking price highs. London had an average house price of £644,045, followed by the South East at £399,680, the East of England at £326,836, the South West at £292,251, the West Midlands at £204,140 and the North West at £177,437.
Nicky Chute, from Foxtons in London,” said: “Last year the volume of sales fell across all London zones but least so in zones 3-6, whilst prices continued to rise. For example, last year, 514 properties were sold in Pimlico and Westminster with an average price of £1.2 million, making the market worth £618 million. In Walthamstow, where Foxtons opened a branch in 2015, 1,722 properties sold for an average of £395,000, amounting to £680 million in sales. This now makes Walthamstow in Outer London a larger market than Pimlico and Westminster in central London.”
Miles Shipside, Rightmove director, said: “While the start of 2016 has seen an encouraging but modest uptick in the number of properties coming to market, demand and momentum have combined to push prices over £300,000. On average 30,000 properties have come to market each week over the past month, up by 3% on this time last year, but there are insufficient numbers of newly-listed properties in many parts of the country to meet demand.
“Visits to the Rightmove website are up by 14% in early March compared to the same period in 2015, so it’s no surprise that those buyers who can borrow more or can find some extra cash are keeping the price merry-go-round spinning, even though increasing numbers of aspiring home-movers cannot afford the ride.”
For first-time buyers, the average price was £185,612, up 1.1% from £183,635 in February.
Shipside said that first-time buyers and would-be trader-uppers are ill-equipped to cope with current house prices, tighter lending criteria and average earnings lagging well behind house price growth.
“However, stronger growth in average earnings would not have helped the situation as it would simply have enabled buyers to bid prices up even higher, chasing the limited supply of suitable housing stock,” said Shipside.
