UK house prices for newly-marketed properties neared a record high this month, spurred on by a cluster of UK regions shrugging off recent political uncertainty.
Four northern regions witnessed their highest ever asking prices in June, pushing property prices nationally up 0.3 per cent to just £91 below June 2018’s record figure of £309,439.
According to Rightmove, the regions of East Midlands, the North West, Wales and Yorkshire & the Humber all enjoyed record asking prices.
That is despite newly-marketed houses in the capital falling in price by an average of 0.4 per cent this month.
“More buoyant markets in the north and midlands are helping to nudge up prices due to the seemingly relentless strength of buyer demand,” said Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst.
“Buyers in four regions are seeing higher new seller asking prices on average than ever before.”
In London, Shipside blamed a combination of stretched affordability, moving costs including stamp duty and Brexit uncertainty for the 0.4 per cent drop in the capital, where prices in June have fallen for the last three years.
Brian Murphy, head of lending at the Mortgage Advice Bureau, said: “The complex current market dynamic is driven by varying levels of consumer sentiment.
“One might suggest that those areas which are seeing more ambitious asking prices are somewhat insulated from the ongoing turbulence at Westminster – that or buyers and sellers in those areas are opting to ignore the headlines and carry on regardless, according to their personal circumstances.”
The scale of the UK’s housing problems were underlined this morning, with new research showing that less than one in 10 towns offer affordable property for nurses, teachers, paramedics, police and firefighters.
Some eight per cent of towns offer affordable housing for key public sector roles, tumbling from 24 per cent five years ago.
Central London remained the least affordable area, while the top three most affordable towns in Britain for key workers are all in the north west.
Halifax, which produced the results, said the gap is due to UK house prices outpacing earnings growth for public sector workers.
Average house prices have risen by 32 per cent compared to key worker average annual earnings growth of seven per cent.
By Sebastian McCarthy
Source: City AM