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UK house price mixed in April with strong growth for the year in London, says the ONS

Strong growth in house prices for London up 14.5% for the year with higher prices for the South East of England and mixed UK results.



Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal London house price have remained strong for the year to April 2016 increasing 14.5% with an average price of £470,025.

The higher rate of growth follows a slowdown in house sales after the introduction in additional Stamp Duty land Tax (SDLT) this month.

There are fewer buy-to-let investors making new purchases as higher stamp duty taxes mean they need larger deposits or higher rental incomes to cover the mortgage interest payments.

The ONS has applied a new House Price Index methodology to collected data as it was developing a divergence with the Land Registry data. This now shows a downward adjustment to the house prices, in particular for London.

One advantage of rising London house prices up £59,522 over the year on average is remortgage buyers can now release capital for home improvements.

South East showing continued growth

Other regions in the UK have seen strong growth in property prices with the East of England higher by 13.6% for the year and average property prices are £263,420.

The South East also had a double digit increase of 12.3% and average prices are £301,689 ahead of England as a whole up 9.1% and average prices of £224,731.

The rapid rise in house prices increases pressure on first time buyers as they now need a larger deposit or higher earnings to purchase their first home.

Across the country Average ONS property values and annual changes for January 2016 are as follows:
Area Annual Changes Property Values
London 14.5% £470,025
South East 12.3% £301,689
East of England 13.6% £263,420
England 9.1% £224,731
South West 6.0% £227,404
West Midlands 7.1% £173,321
East Midlands 7.8% £167,762
Scoltand 3.3% £138,445
Yorks and the Humber 6.0% £146,712
North West 5.8% £145,149
Wales 1.7% £139,385
North East 0.1% £121,719
Northern Ireland 5.9% £117,524
Over a month some areas have been particularly strong. West midlands have seen prices higher by 2.2%, the North West of England 2.3% and both East Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber higher by 1.6%.

London was up by only 0.6% as a whole and there were notable decreases during the month to April 2016 with the South West lower by 2.8%, Wales down by 1.9% and the North East of England lower by 0.9%.

London Boroughs with high growth

A number of London Boroughs experienced very high rises in property prices with the City of London up 27.3% for the year and average prices now £975,595.

Higher property values in London allows the equity release mortgage buyer to access money to buy a more expensive home or reduce inheritance tax owed by your beneficiaries.

After the rush to buy in March to beat the SDLT deadline, the more affordable areas of London have been surging in value as first time buyers and home movers compete for a limited supply of properties.

Boroughs such as Waltham Forest are up by 25.0% and average property prices of £424,663 with Barking and Dagenham up 22.3% with average prices of only £271,828.

Next is Newham higher by 20.9% with average prices of £347,584 and Lewisham higher by 20.2% and average price of a home at £410,126.

This is in contrast to Kensington and Chelsea rising by only 1.8% with average prices at 1,314,702. Hammersmith and Fulham was also slow up 3.9% and City of Westminster up by 3.2% over the year.

In total 25 out of 33 boroughs in London experienced double digit increases although the expectation is for slowing prices with the EU Referendum later this month.

What are your next steps?

Talk to our London City Mortgage advisers if you are an older homeowner releasing equity from your property, we can recommend the lifetime mortgage to access wealth for home or garden improvements and holidays.

Learn more by using the equity release mortgage calculator, property value tracker chart and mortgage costs calculator. Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details.

At LCM our mortgage brokers can provide advice if you are a first time buyer, moving home, want to remortgage your existing home to a new cost effective mortgage deal or are a buy-to-let investor.

Use your dashboard to access online mortgage quotes, money off vouchers and start your mortgage application online 24/7 on desktop, tablet or smartphone.


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