The average property price has reached a record high of £293,999, surpassing the previous peak in June 2022, data from Halifax has revealed.
The data, Halifax’s House Price Index, found house prices increased by 0.2 per cent in October, representing the fourth consecutive monthly increase.
This has left average house prices at their highest point since the end of the pandemic era “race for space” which saw average prices stand at £293,507.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance, Sarah Coles, this increase down to pre-budget anxiety felt by the property sector. “Pre-budget worries prompted a rash of ‘everything must go’ house sales,” she said.
“These were released to legions of buyers clutching new, cheaper mortgages, meaning it was a busy market in October, which helped prices crawl over their previous peak.”
While, Halifax's head of mortgages, Amanda Bryden, said: “That house prices have reached these heights again in the current economic climate may come as a surprise to many, but perhaps more noteworthy is that they didn’t fall very far in the first place. Despite the headwind of higher interest rates, house prices have mostly levelled off over the past two and a half years, increasing by 0.2 per cent overall.
“That is a significant slowdown compared to the 21 per cent rise we saw in the equivalent period from January 2020 to the summer of 2022. The data also showed that the latest findings represent an increase on a yearly basis, with average house prices 3.9 per cent higher in October 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023.”
Regional disparity
Halifax also reported that Northern Ireland continued to record the strongest property price growth of any nation or region in the UK, rising by 10.2 per cent on an annual basis in October, with the average price at £204,242.
Similarly, house prices in Wales also recorded strong growth, increasing by 5.6 per cent compared to the previous year, with properties now costing an average of £225,543.
Once again, Scotland saw a more modest rise in house prices, where a typical property now costs £206,480, 1.9 per cent more than the year before.
The North West remained the region of England with the strongest growth with average prices rising by 5.9 per cent over the last year, to sit at £235,587.
Meanwhile, London continues to have the most expensive property prices in the UK, averaging £543,308, up 3.5 per cent compared to last year.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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