The average house price has grown by 6.4 per cent year on year, reaching £188,270 according to the Land Registry.
House prices in England and Wales grew by 1.2 per cent between December and November 2015.
Unsurprisingly, the region with the most significant annual price increase was London, which saw prices go up by 12.4 per cent to £514,097. The capital also saw the greatest monthly price rise with an increase of 2.1 per cent.
Meanwhile in the North East, house prices only grew by 0.8 per cent year on year and Wales saw a monthly fall of 0.8 per cent. The average house in the North East is the cheapest in the country at £99,069 while one in Wales costs £121,780.
Adrian Whittaker, sales director at New Street Mortgages, said that these unseasonal increases in house prices over the Christmas period characterise a market where limited supply and rising demand is making the race to buy a property more and more competitive.
“In such a market, it’s crucial that borrowers have access to a lender that can offer a fast and consistent mortgage application process, as this could be the difference between securing a property and losing out to another buyer.
“Lenders need to make the application of technology a priority if they are to keep up with the demands of today’s brokers and borrowers and deliver the most efficient lending process.”
Despite this, sales volumes between July and October decreased on the same period for the year before.
Jeremy Leaf, a former Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors chairman and north London estate agent, commented that the decline in number of property transactions continues to be a worry.
“If people aren’t able to move in and out of the market when they want to, there will be an inevitable knock-on effect for the rest of the economy.
“With the high cost of moving, continued shortage of supply and affordability issues with tougher mortgage criteria, this situation looks unlikely to change any time soon.”
Last year there were 80,691 transactions a month on average, while during 2014 there were 84,517 a month.
The most expensive area of England and Wales was Kensington and Chelsea, where the average house price was £1,371,086, up by 3.6 per cent on the same period in 2014.
Meanwhile the cheapest average house price was in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, which was £66,065 - although this had increased by 5.7 per cent year on year.
damian.fantato@ft.com
