Written by Thomas Goodman, property expert from MyJobQuote
Property prices per country
Out of the four UK countries, Wales and Scotland saw a 16.2% increase in the average property price. Buying a property in Wales, however, is more expensive with the average house price reaching record levels of £212,000 in April 2022. Although cheaper than Wales, the average house price in Scotland reached a record high of £188,000.
House prices in England saw an 11.9% increase in April 2022, with the average property price reaching just under £300,000. However, this figure differs greatly across the different areas of England, as the average house price in London is 241.35% more expensive than a house in the North East of the country.
Finally, of the four nations, Northern Ireland saw the lowest increase in house prices, despite the increase being more than 10%. Northern Ireland house prices have seen a 10.4% increase since March 2022, with the average home costing £165,000.
Property prices across England
The average house price differs vastly across England, with properties further North costing less on average than those further south and subsequently closer to the capital. Across the
North of England, the North East has seen the lowest average increase in property prices, coming in at just under 5% more in April 2022 than in December 2021, whereas the North West has seen the highest increase across the same period, at almost twice the increase of 9.93%.
Although properties across the East and West Midlands are up to 56.01% more expensive than in the North East, properties are 31.58% less than in the South West, 58.08% less than the South East and an enormous 118.81% less than London. Across the East and West Midlands, the East, which homes Nottingham, Leicester and Derby, saw the largest average increase, with prices seeing an 8.14% rise since December 2021, whereas the West Midlands’ increase was just over 7.6%.
Although London remains the most expensive place to buy a property in England, with the average house price reaching £529,829, its percentage increase is the lowest seen across the whole of the UK at just under 3.5% more than in December 2021. Generally speaking, one of the most contributing factors to house prices increasing has been caused by demand beating supply, meaning there are not enough properties to equally match the number of buyers in the UK and this is especially the case in London, where demand remains consistent and is growing consistently, yet there simply are not enough properties to match this.
The English region with the highest annual house price growth in April 2022 was the South West, which includes Cornwall, Somerset, and Bristol. The average property costs around £318,610, which is an 11.01% increase compared to the price back in December 2021 which was £287,000. Numerous factors play a part in the rise of popularity in the South West, from demand beating supply but also the rise of remote working, which is driving workers away from the capital and into the coast, countryside, or just slower-paced cities.
