London house price gap at record high, says Nationwide
The society also published the latest edition of its monthly index, which showed a price rise of 0.5% in September, and an annual growth rate of 3.8% -. The average house price in Wales is £146,854.
The pick-up in prices confirms policymakers’ concerns that home ownership is being pushed further out of reach for many.
These reforms mean that the buyer of a property in Kensington and Chelsea – London’s most expensive borough – will on average now pay an extra £18,735 in stamp duty, according to Right Move data.
Prices in London average £443,399, while in the North of England a home typically costs £124,345.
“Indeed, the capital has continued to see price growth at or above the rate in the United Kingdom overall over the past four quarters”, said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist in a statement.
“However, the risk remains that construction activity will lag behind strengthening demand, putting upward pressure on house prices and eventually reducing affordability”.
“In recent months surveyors have reported historically low levels of properties for sale and increased new buyer enquiries”, he added.
House prices rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in September, slightly more than expected in a Reuters poll and up from 0.4 percent in August.
“The annual rate of price growth in London is now the highest in the country and actually accelerated to 10.6% in Q3, up from 7.3% in Q2”.
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight said that the think tank expects “house prices to see solid increases over the coming months amid firm activity”. “Most parts of the country continued to see annual house price gains – the exceptions were Scotland and the north west which both recorded small declines”.
Property values in Northern Ireland are continuing to recover, with annual growth of 6.5 per cent taking the typical value there to £127,562, although house prices there are still 44 per cent below their pre-financial crisis peak.
Prices in the Midlands have increased by about 2 per cent over the a year ago.
Hometrack said average property prices in London are already more than 12 times typical earnings.