Average house prices continued to rise in pre-Leave vote month

Annual growth of average UK house prices remained at 8% in May to £211,230, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It is the second release of a newly put together index by the ONS using a different methodology and incorporating cash sales and new dwellings.

However, the data is just for May so doesn’t cover the immediate run-up to or post-Brexit vote period.

On a regional basis, London continues to be the region with the highest average house price, up 13.6% annually to £472,000, followed by the south-east and the east of England, which stand at £306,000 and £265,000, increasing 12.9% and 12.8% respectively.

The lowest average price continues to be in the north-east at £124,000, up 3.2% annually.

Average prices for first-time buyers, excluding Northern Ireland, were up 8.3% annually to £178,923 and up 8.2% to £244,413 for owner occupiers.

Cash buyers in Britain saw prices increase 7.4% to £200,699 while those with a mortgage had annual average increases of 8.7% to £220,765.

Flats or maisonettes saw the biggest annual increase at 9.2% to £192,999 while detached properties represented the smallest rise, albeit at 7.1%, to £313,413.

Responding to the data, Ian Thomas, director of property investment company LendInvest, said: “Events since the Brexit vote are showing signs that the house-buying market may cool in some areas, allowing house prices to reset.

“But predictions of a storm to come in the housing market are overblown.

“Despite the shock of that result, the fundamentals of the UK housing market haven’t changed and won’t change in the near future.

“Irrespective of whether we are in the EU or not, people need homes to live in and we still don’t have anywhere near enough of them.”

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