4 Feb 2016. House price growth in the UK, the average includes London house prices, increased to 9.7% in the year to January 2016, up from 9.5% a month earlier, according to the Halifax. However, rival lender Nationwide has said the annual increase in the year to January was just 4.4%.
“The imbalance between supply and demand continues to exert significant upward pressure on house prices,” said Martin Ellis, Halifax’s housing economist. “This situation looks set to persist over the coming months. Further ahead, increasing affordability issues, as price increases continue to exceed wage growth, are likely to curb housing demand and cause price growth to ease.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35482234
London house prices will rise by almost a third between this year and 2019, new research has found, as demand in the capital continues to vastly outweigh supply.
The CBRE Regional Development Land report forecast nine per cent growth this year, rising to 31 per cent by 2019.
In the wider South East, prices will rise six per cent in 2015, or 26 per cent between 2015 and 2019, thanks to “good train links to London” in areas such as Reading, Guildford and Woking. But in London’s most exclusive areas, house price growth will be more muted, with price increases of just two per cent this year, rising to 23 per cent by 2019.
The research suggested the Housing and Planning Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will give the market a “further lift”.
“Developers will soon be able to deliver schemes that are 100 per cent for private sale, supplying affordable starter homes rather than incorporating an affordable rental element,” said Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE. “This will be a boon to housebuilders and should act as an incentive, bringing developments forward and thus more homes to market.
“These reforms are a positive move and show the government is taking action to address the UK’s chronic undersupply of housing in the private sale sector. However, more action needs to be taken to address other types of tenure, and ensure long term availability of affordable homes for sale or to rent.”
London effect to ripple out
A report, commissioned by Rightmove, suggests the huge price increases seen in London house prices over the last decade will ripple out and push up prices in towns and cities that are within reasonable commuting distance of it.
Home owners in the capital are expected to take advantage of the big price disparities between London house prices in the capital and the provinces by selling up and buying further out.