Properties in the South West of England are rising at 7.5% over the year compared to the slowest region of London with growth of only 2.5%.

Research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows the South West region has the highest annual house price growth in England at 7.5%, improving from 6.1% last month.

The average property value in the South West is £17,726 more than a year ago at £254,081, rising 1.0% over a month although this is behind North East of England up 2.7% for the month.

One advantage of these rising house prices for homeowners is remortgage buyers can release capital for home improvements when their current mortgage deal ends.

Highest growth outside the South East

In the UK the highest annual change is Scotland rising 7.7% over the year to December 2017 and the lowest is London up only 2.5% with the South East higher by 4.2%.

The following table from the ONS shows average house prices and annual change for homeowners to December 2017.

Region	Average price	Annual change
Scotland	£148,783	7.7%
South West	£254,081	7.5%
East Midlands	£185,694	6.3%
West Midlands	£191,050	6.3%
North West	£158,370	5.9%
Wales	£154,398	5.4%
East of England	£290,341	5.2%
England	£243,582	5.0%
Northern Ireland	£130,482	4.3%
South East	£322,269	4.2%
North East	£130,838	3.6%
Yorks and the Humber	£156,781	2.8%
London	£484,173	2.5%

For the South West the average price paid by a first time buyer was £209,570 compared to home movers with a property price of £286,036.

The average house price for a new build property was high at £317,453 and the annual change in prices was 16.2% compared to this time a year ago.

For buy-to-let landlords with existing properties the rise in house prices creates more equity which they can benefit from if they sell in the future.

London showed the slowest annual growth of all UK regions up only 2.5% and is the 13th consecutive month where the annual growth in London has remained below the UK average.

The continued rise in house prices allows the equity release mortgage buyer to access wealth in their property, using this for any purpose such as reduce inheritance tax owed by your beneficiaries or even buy a more expensive home.

House price expectations are negative

The latest report from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) asks their members option about the direction of house prices giving a net balance between -100% (all negative) to +100% (all positive).

In the short term of a few months prices are expected to marginally increase +8% in member opinion in December whereas London this is negative at -32% and the South East with -15%.

Price expectation over the next three months is -6% for the month to December 2017 compared to -4% previously highlighting a lack of conviction surrounding the near-term outlook.

Further price growth with the strongest figures being reported in Wales, Northern Ireland, the North West and the Midlands.

In terms of activity, new buyer enquiries are lower during December having stabilised previously with a net balance of -15% of respondents noted a decline in demand compared with -5% in November.

When members were asked whether they have seen an immediate increase in first time buyer enquiries following changes to Stamp Duty, across the UK +86% indicated there was no change.

What are your next steps?

Talk to our London City Mortgage advisers if you are an older homeowner releasing equity from your property, we can recommend the lifetime mortgage to access wealth for home or garden improvements and holidays.

At LCM our mortgage brokers can provide advice if you are a first time buyer, moving home, want to remortgage your existing home to a new cost effective mortgage deal or are a buy-to-let investor.

Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details. Learn more by using the equity release calculator, property value tracker chart and mortgage monthly costs calculator.

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