London house prices zoom ahead
09-13-2014
Mortgage Solutions
Adam Williams
House price growth in London continues to outpace the rest of the country, with the price gap now the biggest in almost two decades.
Figures from LSL found the average UK house price at the end of August stood at £274,302. However, with London prices continue to steam ahead this has skewed the figures by a record £89,000.
Discounting London and the South East, the average property stood at £185,496. This is the biggest gap recorded by LSL since 1995.
The annual change in prices across the whole UK was 10.7%, compared to 4.3% when the capital and surrounding areas are excluded.
Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: "A game of two halves is being played out in the UK property market. In terms of average house price growth, a gap has developed between the South East corner and the rest of the country.
"If we exclude the key players of London and the South East from the game, a whole different playing field is revealed.
"This obscures cooler prices in much of the country. Further afield, it is critical that support mechanisms like Help to Buy aren't dismantled. In July, house price growth slowed across all regions except for London, the South East and East Anglia. While these three regions continue to set new house price highs, the rest of the country is nowhere near these levels of growth."