UK House Price Index for December 2021 has been released this morning. The index reported that the average price of a property in the UK has risen by 10.8% in the last year to £274,712. This also represents a 0.8% rise in the average price from November to December, the same increase as during the same period in 2020. In England, the average house price was £293,339, an increase of 10.7% on the year before and 1.1% on the previous month.
The report noted the results of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ January 2022 UK Residential Market Survey, which found that new buyer enquiries have also increased at the start of 2022. However, the UK Property Transactions Statistics showed that in December 2021, the estimated number of transactions of residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 20% lower than a year ago.
The index comes on the same day that the Office for National Statistics announced that inflation has risen to 5.5%, its highest level since March 1992, further adding to the pressure on households amid the cost of living crisis. Inflation is expected to hit more than 7% in April before falling in the second half of the year.
Commenting on today’s UK House Price Index Rentplus Chief Executive Steve Collins said:
“The latest rise in house prices and the continuing spike in inflation make it more difficult than ever for those on low and middle incomes to achieve their dream of home ownership.
“With sky-rocketing house prices, crippling energy costs and rising private rents, families are struggling to save any money and are eating into their savings. Each rise in house prices pushes the possibility of home ownership further away for many.
“Successive ‘solutions’ to the UK’s housing problems have repeatedly failed to deliver for those they purport to support – our key and essential workers. There is a real need to increase the use of proven, innovative approaches if we are to make any progress at real scale and give these groups the opportunity to own their own home.”
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/housepriceindex/december2021