House prices continue to rise according to ONS

House prices continue to rise according to ONS

House prices have continued their rise into October according to statistics released today.

According to the Office for Natinoal Statistics (ONS) UK house prices rose 7% in the year to October, compared with 6.1% in the year to September.

The seasonally adjusted monthly rise was 0.8% from September to October.

According to the ONS, release price rises are highly regional with the East and South East of England rising at 10.4% and 9.5% for the year respectively, whereas Wales and Scotland rose 1% and 0.9% respectively. The average annual rise for England was 7.4%

Average mix-adjusted house prices in October 2015 reached £300,000 in England and stood at £174,000 in Wales, £196,000 in Scotland and £158,000 in Northern Ireland.

The North East had the lowest annual growth of the 9 regions, with prices increasing 2.9% in the year to October 2015 (up from 1.8% in the year to September).

London prices increased by 7.7% over the year to October 2015 (up from 7.2% in the year to September 2015). But excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 5.6% over the year to October 2015, up from 5.0% in the year to September 2015.

Richard Sexton, Director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: “The door to the housing market remains open, but many people are still unable to cross the threshold due to a shortage of suitable stock.

“Mortgage lending remains strong, and with low living costs and recovering wages, more of us have healthier looking bank balances, while banks are steadily increasing their home lending. Remortgaging continues to be robust as increasing numbers of homeowners switch onto the cheaper deals on offer.

“More people are now in the position to sell-up and move – or to get on the ladder for the first time – but many are being house-blocked by the lack of homes for sale.

“In the South, this intense competition for property is driving some buyers away from London, and areas like Cambridge in the East and Reading in the South East are seeing extra buyers scour their centres and suburbs for potential homes.

“Prices are rising almost everywhere, but these thriving commuter destinations are showing the fastest growth.”

Peter Rollings, CEO of Marsh & Parsons said: “London house prices are digging their heels in despite the barrage of ferocious taxation they’ve faced, and are standing tall at record levels as we approach the end of the year.

“London may no longer be the region out in front, but it still has a significant and positive impact on measures of house price growth across the country, lifting it by 1.4 percentage points.

“The various housing packages announced in the Autumn Statement will have cheered spirits in the run-up to Christmas. Activity also looks to ramp up on another front as we enter 2016.

“Landlords looking to avoid the extra levy from April will be hurrying to complete purchases before this deadline, so we expect the usually busy first quarter of the year to be even more animated than usual.”

Josh Morris

Josh is the Journalist for the Today's Group and writes many of the articles for Today's Conveyancer. He graduated with a degree in Physics from Cardiff University in 2009 before training as a journalist. He has previously written for The Times, The Mirror and The Daily Express.

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