Despite the Brexit blues subduing the property market, house prices continued to climb, according to official data.
The value of an average UK home increased by 2.2% in the year to November 30 – the latest date prices are available for.
The rise makes the average home in England worth £251,000, while those in Wales reached £173,000 and £155,000 in Scotland.
English house prices were mainly driven by increasing values in the West Midlands (+4%) and North West (3.8%).
The lowest increases were in Eastern England (-0.4%) and London (+0.2%).
“While house price growth in London was low, the area remains the most expensive place to purchase a property, at an average of £475,000. The North East continued to have the lowest average house price, at £131,000, and is the only English region yet to surpass its pre-economic downturn peak of July 2007,” says the ONS report.
“Over the past three years, there has been a general slowdown in UK house price growth, driven mainly by a slowdown in the south and east of England.”
House prices in Wales surged by 7.8% in the period and 3.5% in Scotland.
The trend is for UK house prices to increase each month since January 2013, when the average UK property was worth £167,716 – an increase of 49.66%.
In the decade from January 2009, prices have gone up 59.63% from £157,234 and peaked in November 2019.
Meanwhile, a State Of The Property Nation report from online property portal Zoopla hails confidence in the market reaching a three year high.
The web site quizzed 6,000 people and 650 estate agents to compile the data.
More than half the agents expect to see more homes for sale and more purchases to complete in 2020.
“People continue to take action to minimise the impact the economy could have on their personal finances, with 27% still claiming they’re putting buying or selling a property on hold for now,” says the report.
