England house prices power on: Pete Wargent
Pete WargentDecember 17, 2020
The ONS released its latest data in the UK which showed that inflation or CPI has dug in obdurately at zero year-on-year (a 0.4 reading drops off next month too, so we could be heading negative), suggesting that interest rate hikes are as far as way as they ever were, even after seven years at the effective zero lower bound.
The latest house prices indices from the ONS for July 2015 showed prices rising over the past year in England (+5.6%) with the mix-adjusted average house price in England rising to an all-time high of £299,000.
House prices in England have busted through record highs and are now +19.1% from their pre-downturn peak of January 2008 in seasonally adjusted terms.
By comparison growth over the past year has been flat in Wales (+0.3%) and negative in Scotland (-1.3%), while house prices in Northern Ireland remain a whopping -42.3% below their crazy August 2007 peak levels in seasonally adjusted terms. Woosah.
London house prices continued to power on to a new high of £525,000 (not seasonally adjusted), while annual price gains have been driven largely by the areas immediately surrounding London, namely the East (+8.3%) and the South East (+6.7%) of England.
In short, since the January 2008 peak if you've owned property in London (+46.2% in seasonally adjusted terms), or in nearby cities such as Cambridge or Oxford, then you have continued to do exceptionally well.
House prices in seasonally adjusted terms are also up reasonably strongly in the areas surrounding London such as the South East (+20.0%) and East (+18.8%) since the preceding January 2008 peak.
Elsewhere prices are now rising again but in real terms are generally well below previous peaks, although in nominal terms 7 of the 9 regions have finally recovered to hit new highs.
At a national level the UK house price index sits at 216.9 which is +16.9% higher than the pre-downturn peak of 185.5 seen in January 2008, with London and the South East accounting for the bulk of the increase.
PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and blogger.
His latest book is Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel.
Pete Wargent
Pete Wargent is the co-founder of BuyersBuyers.com.au, offering affordable homebuying assistance to all Australians, and a best-selling author and blogger.