Since 2009, flat prices across the UK have increased by 53%, a lot more than the 39% rise recorded for all property types, according to a new research.
The data was collected by Halifax and shows that flat prices have increased the most in the capital and detached house prices have seen the smallest increase over the last seven years, only going up 19%.
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Terraced home were another solid group and have seen the second biggest price increase over the same period of time with 43%. Overall the research also showed that semi-detached and terraced homes were the most popular choice as they represented 60% of all home sales in 2016.
In the past seven years, the average flat price increase by £84,644, or £1,008 every month, from £159,292 in Q4 2009 to £243,936 in Q4 2016.
London’s property market is seen as the main driver of this development as flat prices in the capital have increased by 65% since 2009. When it comes down to sales, flats represented an impressive 48% of all sales in London whilst they only made up 11% of the national sales.
Terraced homes are currently the most affordable property type in the UK with an average price of £215,690, followed by semi-detached averaging at £225,070 and flats at £243,936. When taking London out of the data, flats become the cheapest property to buy with an average price of £167,144, followed by terraced homes at £185,116.
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Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said:
“Nationally, terraced and semi-detached homes are the most affordable and popular homes with buyers accounting for 60% of sales during 2016. However average price growth for flats, helped by the London market, have outperformed all other property types since 2009.”
“There has been an increasing trend for first time buyers to choose semi-detached homes over the past seven years, whilst terraced homes have shown a decline in popularity. The rise in the age of a typical first time buyer may partly account for this change in preference towards the family friendly semi.”
