The property market across the Midlands is helping average UK house prices to maintain healthy springtime gains, figures reveal today.
The average UK price increased by 1.3 per cent in March, which was the same rate as the same month last year when buy-to-let investors were rushing to snap up properties ahead of a tax crackdown.
It was also the biggest March increase in property values since 2007, according to the Rightmove house price index. But the annual growth rate is down to 2.3 per cent, compared to 7.6 per cent in March 2016.
Brian Murphy, Head of Lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau said that Rightmove reports trends on asking prices, rather than completed transactions, and ‘therefore gives us a current “temperature check” of the UK housing market and sentiment’.
‘The data suggests an average month on month increase of 1.3 per cent on properties coming to the market, suggesting that consumer confidence and demand in bricks and mortar, coupled with a paucity of stock in many towns and cities, is leading to asking prices remaining steady if not increasing in some areas, most notably the East and West Midlands,’ he added.
