London house prices up 50% in 5 years as UK asking prices hit record high
04-21-2015
Soaring prices: Fewer houses coming on the market has driven up prices
HAZEL SHEFFIELD
London house prices have surged almost 50% or £195,420 since the last election in 2010, in a further sign of a growing housing crisis in Britain.
The average asking price across the UK climbed £4381 to hit a record of £286,133 in April, according to data from Rightmove, driven by a 4% decline in the number of new sellers.
The record-level was achieved despite the rate of price increases slowing from 5.4% last month to 4.6% in April.
The new figures come just weeks before the general election and will put pressure on the parties to make more of their plans for housing in the final days of their campaigns.
So far the Conservatives have pledged to extend the right to buy scheme initiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1980, while the Labour Party have said they will build 200,000 new homes a year by 2020.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove and a housing market analyst, said that failure to meet house-building targets in the last three decades to match demand has been a major factor in upwards price pressure both in the property sales and private rented sectors.
He noted that the rapid fall in inflation has exacerbated the problem, making house price growth seem steeper to buyers.
“Record high housing demand and an under-supply of homes have delivered a new all-time high in the price of property coming to market in the month before the election,” Shipside said
London house prices up 50% in 5 years as UK asking prices hit record high