Insurance News Archive

Houses prices in UK's counties break £100,000 barrier

Average house prices have risen above £100,000 in every county in the UK, the new county house price table from Halifax has revealed.

Providing an example of how house price growth has shown great acceleration in recent years, this is the first time that each county in the UK has average prices with more than six figure sums each.

By contrast, five years ago just a third of counties across the UK possessed average house prices of more than £100,000.

House prices in Wales have shown significant growth since 2001, particularly in areas such as Blaenau Gwent, Carmarthenshire, Anglesey, Rhondda, Cynon, Taff and Conwy.

Spots in the north of England experienced particular growth over the period, with County Durham (126 per cent) and East Riding in Yorkshire (121 per cent) achieving tangible gains.

Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax, said: "Wales, Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Northern Ireland, have dominated the UK county league table for house price growth over the past five years.

"Much of the outperformance by these parts of the UK has been part of a catch-up process with the greater affordability of more affordable property stimulating demand and therefore allowing prices to rise more quickly," he added.

19 Jan 2007