Every region in England and Wales have seen record property prices with the housing market showing a slight rise in annual growth following 11 months of falls, the latest index shows.
In the 12 months to May 2018, annual price growth crept up from 2.1% to 2.2%, but month on month prices were unchanged, the data from the Your Move index shows.
Growth was led by regions in Wales with prices up 13.9% in Monmouthshire, up 11.6% in the Vale of Glamorgan and 9.5% in Cardiff, but the report points out that this may have been due to buyers rushing to beat the new Land Transaction Tax introduced in April as the growth calculations are based on three month averages.
But Wales is still seeing strong growth with prices up 5.2% year on year. Average prices have reached a new peak of £291,344 in Monmouthshire and £269,609 in the Vale of Glamorgan, making them the most expensive locations in Wales.
Some cheaper areas have also seen strong growth. In Carmarthenshire prices were up 12.6% to £163,633. However, Wales has also seen price falls. Indeed, of the 33 areas to see prices drop over the last year, outside London, eight are in Wales.
The next strongest growth was seen in the North East of England with a rise of 4.5%, led by 9% growth in Northumberland and 6.1% in Tyne and Wear. Meanwhile, the East Midlands, with prices up 2.6% annually, was the only region to see annual price increases in all its local authority areas, led by Rutland up 9.3%, Northamptonshire up 4.1% and Leicestershire up 3.4% to a new peak of £244,633.
At the other end of the scale, growth is weaker in Yorkshire and the Humber, up 1.2% annually, and the South East where prices increased by just 0.6%. Indeed, Windsor and Maidenhead saw one of the biggest annual fall in prices with a decline of 11.3%. But some areas in the region are performing well with the Isle of Wight, Medway and Oxfordshire all setting new peak average prices in April.
London saw annual growth of 2.9%, the lowest since March 2012 and prices also fell on a monthly basis, down 0.3%, taking the average house price in the capital to £636,947. A number of London boroughs recorded substantial falls over the 12 months to April 2018.
Prices fell by 24.9% in the City of London but this was related to a small number of sales, the report says, while prices were down by 19.1% in Southwark, down 19.1%, largely as a result of high value properties sold the year before.
Only Kensington and Chelsea, the most expensive borough, recorded double digit growth, up 10.4% to £2.17 million, followed by Lambeth where prices increased 5.8%. Overall, 24 London boroughs have seen prices fall over the year, and just nine have seen them rise.
‘Whilst the market may seem subdued, we should welcome the fact that every region in England and Wales is still growing and that the London market seems to be shaking off its malaise,’ said Oliver Blake, managing director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents.
