Two-fifths of counties 'see trebling of house prices'
Saturday, 02 Feb 2008 00:01
House prices treble in two-fifths of UK counties since 1997, survey says
Four in ten UK counties have witnessed a trebling of house price growth in the last ten years, Halifax said today.
According to the building society, 44 out of a total of 104 counties have experienced the unprecedented growth since 1997.
Halifax's annual county house price survey says Northern Ireland's County Armagh has experienced the most pronounced growth, with prices rising by 331 per cent over the period in question.
Half of the top ten counties in terms of house price growth are all in the province, the survey shows.
But Surrey remains Britain's costliest county with an average house price of £364,115, while the top ten most expensive counties are unchanged from ten years ago.
Only one county – North Lanarkshire – has experienced an average price rise of less than 150 per cent, with Blaenau Gwent bottom of the house price league on £113,964.
But Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist, commented: "The counties recording the best house price performance over the past ten years have mainly been outside southern England.
"Four of the five counties with the highest house price growth are in Northern Ireland reflecting the strength of the housing market there over the past few years."
Mr Ellis continued: "All counties in the UK have seen at least a doubling in prices since 1997. Prices in more than four in ten counties trebled or more. There are now only 20 counties in the UK with an average house price below £150,000; ten years ago, every county was below the threshold."
Today's survey comes as the global economy continues to shudder from the collapse of the US subprime lending market last summer.
Central banks across the world have been slashing
interest rates in a bid to stave off the threat of a recession; something that policymakers in the UK insist is not impending.