POSTED BY: RESIDENT   23/03/2017

Property prices in England and Wales continue to rise with an annual year-on-year increase of 6.2 per cent in January according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

House values rose by 0.8 per cent month to month from December, to continue an upward path despite uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

England fared best with an annual rise of 6.5 per cent, taking the average property price to £234,794 according to the ONS research.

Wales also showed an annual rise of 4.2 per cent to reach £145,933 in January. Though property prices fell slightly month to month by 0.6 per cent from December.

The strongest rise was seen in the East of England with an increase of 9.4 per cent over the last twelve months.

London was slightly behind with an annual rise of 7.3 per cent. However, the capital showed strong signs of turning the corner from its recent slump, registering the largest month to month increase of 3 per cent from December.

Lowest annual growth was seen in the North East at just 2.2 per cent, and in Yorkshire and Humberside a large monthly decrease of 2.6 per cent was recorded.

Despite doom and gloom predictions in the run up to the EU referendum, Brexit uncertainty continues to be ignored by the property market as prices continue to rise regardless of the imminent start of the exit process.

CEO of haart estate agents, Paul Smith, commented: ‘With only a week to go until Article 50 is triggered – house prices remain indestructible as the average person is paying £13,000 more to own a home than the same time last year, reflecting the health and buoyancy of the UK economy seen in the last few months.’

Property price growth is slightly below the 7.4 per cent seen in 2016, and with inflation moving past the Bank of England target rate of 2 per cent this week, buyers may become more conservative. But the shortage of available property in the UK compared to demand should strongly underpin the market.