"Following a strong December, the performance in January shows a market whose resilience continues to defy the doubters."
Your Move’s latest house price index shows that prices are now almost £10,000 higher than in January 2016, when the average was £291,165. Prices have now doubled over the last 14 years from the £150,000 mark passed in November 2002.
Activity in January was also higher than usual for the time of year, with 60,000 transactions - lower than the 62,059 in January 2016, which also started strongly, but up by more than 2,000 on 2015.
London saw a strong December, with prices growing 0.3%, the same as the national average for that month. For the first time in nine months, average prices have risen in the capital, with prices for the year finishing up 1.3%, with the average home in London costing £598,001.
The results were supported by strong growth in cheaper areas as buyers search for value or affordability. Barking and Dagenham, where average prices of £301,572 are almost half the London average, saw prices rise 13.6% annually. Waltham Forest and Redbridge, again with prices well below average, also saw double-digit growth (of 11.3% and 10.8%, respectively).
There are also some tentative signs of a recovery at the top end of the market. Of the top five most expensive boroughs at the end of 2016, Wandsworth saw an annual rise of 3.3% and the most expensive borough, Kensington and Chelsea, saw a rise annually of 2.7%.
However the City of London saw the biggest fall over the month, with prices dropping 10.0% in December to finish down 20.2% on the same time last year.
But the strong finish to the year means that London rises off the bottom of the table for house price growth over 2016. Instead, the North East takes its place; with prices dropping 0.3% in December to finish effectively flat over the last twelve months.
Every other region of the country has seen prices grow in the last 12 months, led still by the East, where the average price edged up a further 0.1% in the month to finish 7.1% up on last December. The region was supported by strong growth in the last year in Luton (up 10.1%), Thurrock (up 11%) and Southend-on-Sea (up 14.7%), which also saw among the strongest monthly growth at 2.9%.
Other top performing regions included the South East, increasing 4.9% annually with double digit growth in Medway and Portsmouth; and the East Midlands, where Rutland saw growth of 12.4% over the year and the region as a whole increased by 4.5%.
The strongest annual growth in a unitary authority, however, was in Kingston upon Hull, 2017 City of Culture. Prices in Hull grew 1.5% in December to finish up 16.8% on the year, with the average house price rising by £19,072 to £132,590. That performance wasn’t matched by Yorks & Humber more widely, though. Prices in the region grew just 2.3% over the year.
Oliver Blake, Managing Director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, said: “It’s been a confident start to the year from the housing market. Following a strong December, the performance in January shows a market whose resilience continues to defy the doubters.”
