Yahoo Finance Average house price rises by £33k as costs start climbing again
The average UK house price hit a new record high of £296,422 in October, up from September’s £295,528.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that on an annual basis, average UK house prices were 12.6% higher than in October 2021, up from 9.9% in September.
This means that the average UK house price was £33,000 higher in October than a year earlier.
Steadily increasing prices throughout 2022 resulted in the average UK house price reaching a record high.
Back in OCT 2022 London was the first region to feel the cold snap coming. As the monthly change to AVG house prices turned bitter @ons pic.twitter.com/1v6pfanpi0
— Emma Fildes (@emmafildes) December 14, 2022
The typical house price in Scotland increased by 8.5% over the year, to £195,000.
The average house price in Wales increased by 11.8% over the year, reaching £224,000.
In England, the typical property value jumped by 13.2% annually to £316,000.
The average house price in Northern Ireland increased by 10.7% over the year, reaching £176,000.
The North East continued to have the lowest average house price of all English regions, at £168,000 in October 2022, which is a record high for the region.
However, the North East has changed from being the region with the lowest annual house price inflation in September 2022, to the region with the highest house price inflation in October 2022.
Read more: UK inflation eases to 10.7% but food prices continue to soar
Average prices in the North East increased by 17.3% in the year to October 2022, up from an annual percentage change of 6.7% in September 2022.
Aimee North, ONS head of housing market indices, said: “Annual house price inflation increased in October, although this was mainly because of the sharp fall in house prices at the same time last year following the end of the stamp duty holiday.
“London saw the lowest annual growth throughout the UK and was the only region to show a fall in average house prices between September and October 2022, while house prices in the North East saw the highest annual growth.
“Rental prices reported their strongest rise in six years, driven by increases in the London rental market. East Midlands reported the highest annual rise while Wales replaced London as the region with the lowest.”
ONS figures showed that private rental prices paid by tenants rose by 4% in the 12 months to November 2022, up from 3.8% in the 12 months to October 2022, representing the largest annual percentage change since the records started in January 2016.
Annual private rental prices increased by 3.9% in England, 3.1% in Wales and 4.4% in Scotland in the 12 months to November.
Read more: Bank of England: 4 million mortgages to rise next year
Private rental prices in London increased by 3.5% in the 12 months to November – the strongest annual percentage change since April 2016.
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and former RICS residential chairman, said: "At first glance, this most comprehensive of all the housing market surveys seems to demonstrate considerable resilience. However, digging a little deeper, these numbers reflect what was happening in late summer and early autumn, not what we’ve been seeing in our offices since.
"Most demand, fuelled by mortgages arranged on more advantageous terms, seems to have been satisfied. A better test will come in early 2023 when a large proportion of buyers have to decide whether they will continue to press the pause button or review their searches in response to lower mortgage rates and inflation figures."
Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown, commented: “House price rises bounced back in October, but this isn’t quite what it seems. It owes an awful lot to the fact that at the same time a year earlier average house prices actually fell £6,000 in the month after the stamp duty holiday finally came to an end. In reality, house prices were up just 0.3% between September and October. And this is also a snapshot of the relatively halcyon days, before the chaos of the mini-budget brought confidence in property prices crashing down around our ears."
