House prices: Which two towns are the new housing hotspots?
12-16-2016
"House prices have surged in unfashionable parts of outer London while they stall and fall in more glamorous districts," says the Daily Mail.
That's based on data from the Office for National Statistics, which broadly backed up wider surveys showing slower but still positive overall growth and a shift away from "prime" London postcodes driving the market.
Monthly growth was modest at 0.1 per cent in October, while annual inflation barely changed at a still-hefty 6.9 per cent.
Beneath these headline numbers, however, prices fell in six out of 13 regions tracked, with falls of more than one per cent in the capital, the north-east and north-west.
The fastest increase was recorded in the commuter town of Basildon, in Essex, where prices increased a fifth in the past 12 months to an average of more than £301,000.
Slough, in Berkshire, home to the fictional TV character David Brent in The Office, also saw prices jump nearly 20 per cent to almost £309,000.
The two towns are "the new housing hotspots" in the UK, says the Daily Mirror, although other commuter towns are enjoying a similar renaissance - Broxborne, in Hertfordshire, for example, saw a 17 per cent bounce in the past year.
The fastest fall, of almost nine per cent over the past year, was recorded in the City of London, which boasts an average house price in excess of £712,000.
The similarly exclusive borough of Kensington and Chelsea fell by 4.9 per cent to average £1.2m.
Other parts of the UK experiencing a sharp decline include Aberdeen, which saw prices fall close to nine per following the downturn in the oil and gas sector, major industries in the city.
In general, surveys and experts predict house prices across the country will rise in low single-digit percentages next year, while values in London could fall as much as five per cent.