£156 billion was added to the value of British homes in the last 3 months, taking the total value of Britain’s residential housing stock to £6.2 trillion, according to new research by Zoopla.co.uk.
The increase was driven by a 2.56% (£5,899) rise in the average property value over the second quarter, which took the average value of a property in Britain up to £235,912. In terms of total gains, £1.7 billion per day was added to the value of Britain’s housing stock during Q2, resulting in a daily increase of £65 in the value of the average British home.
All eleven regions in Britain saw their average property value increase by at least 2% over Q2, highlighting the strong performance of property values nationwide rather than just in London and the South East. It is the first time since the 2008 downturn that every region in the UK has seen at least a 2% rise in its average property value over a single quarter.
The biggest increase in values was seen in the East Midlands, where values increased 2.78% (£4,495). Yorkshire and the Humber was the second best performing region, with the average property values also rising 2.78% (£3,933) during Q2.
Wales was the third with a rise of 2.72% (£4,155). All three of those regions saw bigger rises than London (2.71%). And seven out of eleven regions saw a bigger rise than the South East (2.62%), suggesting the market in the South East isn’t pulling away from the national market as quickly as it has been.
With values rising more evenly across the UK, the north-side divide in property values narrowed slightly during Q2. The list of places with the biggest increase in values was less dominated by southern areas, with six northern towns featuring in the top ten.
Ellesmere in Shropshire saw the biggest increase over Q2, with the average value in the area rising 3.25% (£6,657). Ripon, North Yorkshire and Snodland in Kent, were second and third, with average values rising 3.23% and 3.21% respectively.
At the other end of the scale, average values rose slowest in Glenrothes, Fife. The town saw values rise just 1.69% (£1,907) over the first quarter, the smallest increase of any place in Britain. Heywood, Greater Manchester (1.70%), and Spennymoor, County Durham (1.73%) saw the second and third slowest increase in values.
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