GOING UP: House prices in Worcester have seen some of the highest rises in the UK.
Tom Edwards, Political Reporter
HOUSE prices have surged seven per cent across Worcester in just one year - with the city's rocketing demand outstripping other parts of the UK.
Buyers now need more than £14,000 in extra cash to get on the property ladder compared to last year after a frenzied 12 months of activity.
Your Worcester News can reveal how analysis of the selling prices of more than 1,000 homes has put the average rise at seven per cent, with estate agents saying properties are being snapped up "left, right and centre".
But the boom has led to concerns people are increasingly priced out the market - with the average Worcester house now going for £208,347 - £14,584 extra.
More than 1,500 people remain on a council waiting list and wage rises have been rare over the last year.
It comes after new Government figures revealed a spike in construction activity across the city, with building starting on 680 homes last year, 290 of which were completions.
Across Worcestershire work started on 4,330 properties in 2015 of which 2,140 were completed, a rise of more than 20 per cent.
The prices research, from Right Move, shows seven per cent hikes in the three main urban county areas of Worcester, Redditch and Kidderminster last year.
Bromsgrove fared even better at nine per cent, while it was five per cent for Droitwich - a rate which matched the rest of the UK.
In Worcester buyers now need an average of £171,813 to even get a terraced home, according to sales over the last year - while semi-detached ones typically fetch £197,813.
Estate Agent Mike Burtenshaw, who manages the Worcester branch of The Property Centre, said: "The last year has been brilliant, generally speaking we are selling really, really quickly - bidding wars are going on left, right and centre.
"Buy-to-let landlords are pushing up the bottom of the market and that appears to have affected the rest of it, there are so many buyers out there.
"We had a three-bed for sale the other week and 17 people booked to see it."
Leading politicians say the sharp rises are more evidence the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), which earmarks land for 28,370 new homes by 2030, is of crucial importance.
Worcester MP Robin Walker said: "It's very positive stuff and is great for everyone who has got a house, but it does come with its problems - that's why making sure we get new affordable housing is so important."
In the 2014/15 financial year 260 affordable homes were built in Worcester, a record figure this century and more than double a typical 12-month tally.
The city's Labour group leader Councillor Adrian Gregson has called for even more urgency.
He said: "It obviously demonstrates Worcester is an attractive where place people want to live and that's great - my concern would be how difficult it is for those starting off.
"The knock-on impact is more people living at home or in rented accommodation, it shows in terms of the SWDP how we need to get on with that."