UK house prices: The average price of a UK flat has risen by nearly £85,000 since 2009
Flat prices in the UK have soared over 50 per cent or nearly £85,000 since 2009, according to data from Halifax.
The study found that growth in flat prices has upstaged growth in prices for other property types (39 per cent) in the last seven years.
The average price of a UK flat has increased by £84,644 (£1,008 per month) in the past seven years from £159,292 in the fourth quarter of 2009 to £243,936 in the same period in 2016.
Detached home prices have increased the least, rising by 19 per cent since 2009. Meanwhile terraced and semi-detached homes are the most popular types of property representing 60 per cent of all home sales in 2016.
London leads the way
The average price of a flat in London is nearly £400,000, the study pointed out. This means that buyers forked out £230,894 more on average to own a flat in the capital than the rest of the UK.
Halifax attributed the national rise in flat prices since 2009 to the "rapid increase in flat prices in London (65 per cent)", where flats represent just under half (48 per cent) of all sales compared with the UK average (excluding London) of 11 per cent.
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “Nationally, terraced and semi-detached homes are the most affordable and popular homes with buyers accounting for 60 per cent of sales during 2016. However average price growth for flats, helped by the London market, have outperformed all other property types since 2009.
“There has been an increasing trend for first time buyers to choose semi-detached homes over the past seven years, whilst terraced homes have shown a decline in popularity. The rise in the age of a typical first time buyer may partly account for this change in preference towards the family-friendly semi.”