After so many months of bad news on house prices, there is at last a little encouragement through official figures from the Land Registry.
Its sales figures show a 1.1% rise in January to an average of £161,545 with every area apart from the North West recording a rise. London saw the biggest increase of 2.5% followed by the North East which witnessed a 2.2% rise.
Analysts say the slight upsurge, which has been described as “surprising”, could be caused by “pent up” demand by buyers as a result of sellers’ having been reluctant to put their properties on the market. It is also thought that first-time buyers have been keen to take their first steps on the property ladder to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday which ends in March.
Ed Stansfield, chief property economist at Capital Economics, urged caution however. He said that the Land Registry figures do nothing to alter the fact that outside of London and the South East prices are stagnant or even edging lower. He added that the bigger picture was still one of a very weak property market.
https://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/property-prices-on-the-increase-7459810.html