The property market is running at its fastest pace since before the financial crisis
20 May 2021 • 6:00am
Annual house price growth in March hit 10.2pc, according to official figures – the highest rate of growth recorded since August 2007.
It is a comparison that sparks fears of an overheated market. August 2007 was the peak of the housing market before the financial crisis. Less than a year later, a 17-month period of house price falls began, with values plummeting nearly 16pc.
Government measures such as the stamp duty holiday and the furlough scheme have so far insulated the housing market from the worst economic shock in 300 years. Can the growth continue, or are these overheated house prices on borrowed time?
House prices surge at fastest rate since 2007
Average house worth £256,000 at the end of March – 10pc higher than in 2020
19 May 2021 • 11:22am
House prices in the UK surged by double digits in the year to March, at the fastest rate in almost 14 years.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed prices grew by 10.2pc, the highest since August 2007, before the financial crisis.
The increase was up from the 9.2pc annual rise recorded in February.
The average house price in the UK hit £256,000 in March, according to the official figures, which is £24,000 higher than in the same month in 2020.
England s most in demand neighbourhoods – where bidding wars are driving up house prices
In the London borough of Kingston-upon-Thames there are 26 buyers for every property listing
18 May 2021 • 6:00am
Clockwise from top left: Dore in Sheffield, Stoke Row in South Oxfordshire, Angel in the London Borough of Islington and Stow-on-the-Wold in Cotswold
Credit: Alamy/Tony Mitchell
In this new three-part series, we take a look at the neighbourhoods where buyers are fighting hardest to buy homes across England, Wales and Scotland. First, the most in demand markets in England
The property market is undergoing a well-documented boom. But where are buyers battling most ferociously to secure their dream homes?
Five charts that show what a second independence referendum could mean for Scottish house prices
Before the previous vote in 2014, investors panicked and house prices fell
Market s such as Edinburgh s are sky high – but they can be easily destabilised
Credit: Getty
Momentum is growing for a second Scottish independence referendum. Meanwhile, Scotland s property market is frenzied, with buyers are offering 20pc over asking and footing the difference in cash.
So what would happen if there is another vote?
We look back at the 2014 referendum, and the vote for Brexit, to understand what a new push for independence would mean for the property market.