A government report has indicated that in 2009 property prices in the UK increase by 2.9 percent. The data comes from the most recent government house price survey.
The Department for Communities and Local Government stated that whilst overall prices increased by 2.9 percent the actual house price increases varied from area to area, and its report provided a breakdown of which areas had seen increases and by what level.
The report showed that England saw a 3 percent increase in house prices last year, whilst Scotland saw an increase of 3.8 percent. The level of increase seen in Wales was just 1 percent, and in Northern Ireland there was actually a fall in house prices, which fell by 6 percent.
This gave the overall house price increase of 2.9 percent across the UK, although some lenders have suggested that the increase for last year was greater than this.
A couple of lenders, Halifax and Nationwide, claimed that last year saw property prices increase by around 6 percent in the UK. However, the government report suggests that increases were not as high as this and therefore recovery in house prices was not as great as may previously have been reported.
The figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government indicate that property prices have now increased for eight months in a row. Many have seen these increases as signs of sustainable recovery within the property market.
One economist from Global Insight stated: “Virtually all house prices measures, including the DCLG, indicate that house prices troughed in the early months of 2009 and have been firming ever since. The revival in house prices since the early months of 2009 is a consequence of buyer affordability and interest being lifted by sharply reduced mortgage availability.”