House prices end 2021 on a record high

UK house prices have ended the year at yet another record high according to The Nationwide. However, London was the weakest performer, with annual growth remaining at 4.2 percent.

The Nationwide says annual house price growth increased to 10.4 percent in December from 10.0 in November, making 2021 the strongest calendar year for house price growth since 2006.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner explains “Demand has remained strong in recent months, despite the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of September. Mortgage approvals for house purchases have continued to run above pre-pandemic levels, despite the surge in activity seen earlier in the year. Indeed, in the first 11 months of 2021, the total number of property transactions was almost 30 percent higher than the same period of 2019”.

While there was a slowing in northern England (North, North West, Yorkshire & Humberside, East Midlands, and West Midlands), annual price growth continued to exceed that in southern England (London, Outer Metropolitan, Outer South East, East Anglia, and South West). London was the only UK region to see lower annual price growth in 2021 than in 2020.

The South West was the strongest-performing English region, with annual price growth of 11.5 percent, the largest calendar-year increase in the region since 2004.