Price of average UK home skyrockets to £276.7k as cost of living crunch clouds home ownership dreams
The average price tag of a home in the UK hit £276,755 in February, according to government figures.
Rising house prices come as Brits have been forced to tighten household purse strings amid historic levels of inflation.
The annual price change for a property in the UK was 10.9 per cent.
The average price of a property in London stood at £529,882, with annual growth accelerating to 8.1 per cent in the year to February.
Lawrence Bowles, director of research at Savills, said: “While London still slows the slowest growth at a regional level, it is now showing by far the fastest pace of change.”
Average flat values in London rose 7.9 per cent on the year, compared to just 1.5 per cent annual growth in the year to January.
He added: “As our lives start to look more like they did before the pandemic, some of those changes in buyer behaviour we saw during the pandemic are starting to unwind. While access to more space remains important, more buyers are telling us that living near a tube station or close to shops and other amenities is a higher priority.
“While London looks ripe for further recovery, we do expect overall price growth to slow in the coming months as affordability tightens. The Bank of England has already increased the base rate three times in the last few months. With inflation still running hot, mortgage lenders have been pricing in further rate rises. That limits affordability at the point of purchase, particularly for first-time buyers who have less equity backing them.”