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East Anglia takes the top spot for house price growth

With a rise of 5% in the last year, house price growth in East Anglia has outstripped the rest of the country. The region appears to be leading the way, the new figures show, with the closest other regions falling way behind on 4.4% and 4.1% for the North West and East Midlands respectively.

Amid fears of a housing market slow down, the market actually saw a rebound in June, with the average house price pushing over the £210,000 mark. In general, across the country the market has risen to sit between the 3 to 6% figures we have seen since 2015.

According to Robert Gardner, chief economist at the Nationwide: ‘There has been a shift in regional house price trends. Price growth in the south of England has moderated, converging with the rates prevailing in the rest of the country.

‘In quarter two the gap between the strongest performing region and the weakest was the smallest on record, based on data going back to 1974.

‘London saw a particularly marked slowdown, with annual price growth moderating to just 1.2pc – the second slowest pace of the 13 UK regions and the weakest pace of growth in the capital since 2012.’ So it looks like the rest of the UK might be catching up with the capital after years of trailing.

However, this rise followed three months when the market seemed to shrink for the first time in several years.

It’s unclear whether the national rise was due to an increase in demand following growing employment rates or whether it was simply due to a shortfall in the number of available houses.

Although there were warnings about a slow down in the market on the back of increased inflation squeezing many household budgets. This may be countered by a similar slowdown in house building, which will see demand remain high.

However, this is great news for the East Anglia region, with cities like Norwich leading the way in the property market. The city boasts plentiful employment opportunities at both the university and research centre, with a promising housing market future too.
If you’d like to know more about the housing market in the area, then get in touch with a member of the Agile team. The Norfolk and Norwich property market is our specialist area and we’re always happy to chat about and share our local knowledge.