Six UK cities have seen double digit growth in average house prices over the past 12 months, according to the latest figures from the Hometrack UK Cities House Price Index.
Unsurprisingly the top performer was London, where prices have risen £59,000 or 14.7% during 2014, taking the cost of an average property to £403,500.
But Scottish city Aberdeen was hot on the heels of the capital with a rise of 13.5% pushing house prices up £26,000 to £193,800 on average.
Oxford (11.9%), Bristol (11.6%), Cambridge (10.1%) and Edinburgh (10.1%) all also saw house price growth of more than 10% over the last year.
City house price hotspots
The Hometrack index looks at average house prices in 20 major cities across the UK. Here’s how they all measure up:
|
City |
Average price (Dec 2014) |
Growth in average price year-on-year |
% change year on year |
% change compared to 2007 |
|
London |
£403,500 |
£59,315 |
14.7% |
30.5% |
|
Aberdeen |
£193,800 |
£26,163 |
13.5% |
13.9% |
|
Oxford |
£345,000 |
£41,055 |
11.9% |
23% |
|
Bristol |
£216,500 |
£25,114 |
11.6% |
7.9% |
|
Cambridge |
£337,000 |
£34,037 |
10.1% |
28% |
|
Edinburgh |
£196,900 |
£19,887 |
10.1% |
-4.8% |
|
Southampton |
£190,900 |
£16,608 |
8.7% |
4.5% |
|
Portsmouth |
£193,800 |
£15,504 |
8% |
3.9% |
|
Leicester |
£145,100 |
£10,302 |
7.1% |
-1.5% |
|
Manchester |
£136,800 |
£9,439 |
6.9% |
-7.6% |
|
Cardiff |
£176,200 |
£11,982 |
6.8% |
-0.7% |
|
Newcastle |
£123,300 |
£8,261 |
6.7% |
-9.2% |
|
Nottingham |
£128,900 |
£8,379 |
6.5% |
-2.6% |
|
Belfast |
£115,700 |
£7,521 |
6.5% |
-49.8% |
|
Sheffield |
£125,400 |
£7,775 |
6.2% |
-5.9% |
|
Leeds |
£139,100 |
£8,068 |
5.8% |
-9.5% |
|
Bournemouth |
£240,300 |
£13,217 |
5.5% |
0.6% |
|
Birmingham |
£133,400 |
£7,204 |
5.4% |
-6.1% |
|
Glasgow |
£110,100 |
£5,835 |
5.3% |
-13.8% |
|
Liverpool |
£109,100 |
£5,128 |
4.7% |
-15.1% |
Source: Hometrack UK Cities House Price Index
Despite all cities recording growth in average house prices year-on-year, only eight have surpassed their 2007 peak.
London house prices have rocketed above their 2007 high by nearly a third (30.5%) followed by Cambridge (28%), Oxford (23%), Aberdeen (13.9%), Bristol (7.9%), Southampton (4.5%), Portsmouth (3.9%) and Bournemouth (0.6%).
[SPOTLIGHT]The remaining 12 major UK cities in the report still record house prices below their 2007 highs.
Belfast has the largest gap to overcome with average house prices still nearly 50% below their 2007 peak, while average property prices in Liverpool (-15.1%) and Glasgow (-13.8%) also have a long way to go before they recover.
Compare mortgages with lovemoney.com
The pace of house price growth
Hometrack says pent-up demand has fed back into the market over the last two years, supported by record low mortgage rates.
However, as mortgage approvals have weakened in the last five months, thanks to stricter affordability checks, house price growth appears to have cooled in many cities.
That's clear when you look at the pace of growth in the 20 major UK cities over the last six months between June and December.
|
City |
Year-on-year house price growth (June 2014) |
Year-on-year house price growth (December 2014) |
|
Edinburgh |
4.4% |
10.1% |
|
Aberdeen |
7.8% |
13.5% |
|
Glasgow |
2.2% |
5.3% |
|
Newcastle |
4.3% |
6.7% |
|
Leicester |
5.2% |
7.1% |
|
Liverpool |
3.4% |
4.7% |
|
Manchester |
5.7% |
6.9% |
|
Cardiff |
5.5% |
6.8% |
|
Sheffield |
5.2% |
6.2% |
|
Portsmouth |
7.2% |
8.0% |
|
Birmingham |
5.0% |
5.4% |
|
Southampton |
8.7% |
8.7% |
|
Nottingham |
6.5% |
6.5% |
|
Leeds |
6.2% |
5.8% |
|
Bristol |
12.5% |
11.6% |
|
Belfast |
8.6% |
6.5% |
|
Cambridge |
12.5% |
10.1% |
|
Bournemouth |
8.0% |
5.5% |
|
London |
18.2% |
14.7% |
|
Oxford |
15.9% |
11.9% |
As you can see, average house price growth accelerated in 11 UK cities, but was slowing or had stopped in nine over the last six months.
The fastest growth over the last six months was seen in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, which Hometrack attributes to the conclusion of the Scottish referendum.
Meanwhile house price inflation had slowed most in Oxford, London and Bournemouth.
Overall Hometrack predicts the slowdown of the market will continue in 2015.
This echoes the sentiments from Halifax and Nationwide which also report a cooling in house price growth.
Compare mortgages with lovemoney.com