£156 billion was added to the value of British homes during the second quarter of 2013, taking the total value of Britain’s residential housing stock to £6.2 trillion, according to research published by Zoopla.co.uk.
The rise was driven by a 2.56% (£5,899) rise in the average property value over the second quarter, which took the average value of a property in Britain up to £235,912. In terms of total gains, £1.7 billion per day was added to the value of Britain’s housing stock during Q2, resulting in a daily increase of £65 in the value of the average British home.
Zoopla found that all 11 regions in Britain saw their average property value increase by at least 2% over Q2, highlighting the strong performance of property values nationwide rather than just in London and the South East.
It is the first time since the 2008 downturn that every region in the UK has seen at least a 2% rise in its average property value over a single quarter.
The biggest increase in values was seen in the East Midlands, where values increased 2.78% (£4,495). Yorkshire and the Humber was the second best performing region, with the average property values also rising 2.78% (£3,933) during Q2. Wales was the third with a rise of 2.72% (£4,155). All three of those regions saw bigger rises than London (2.71%). And seven out of 11 regions saw a bigger rise than the South East (2.62%).
With values rising more evenly across the UK, the north-side divide in property values narrowed slightly during Q2. The list of places with the biggest increase in values was less dominated by southern areas, with six northern towns featuring in the top 10. Ellesmere in Shropshire saw the biggest increase over Q2, with the average value in the area rising 3.25% (£6,657). Ripon, North Yorkshire and Snodland in Kent, were second and third, with average values rising 3.23% and 3.21% respectively.
In comparison, average values rose slowest in Glenrothes, Fife. The town saw values rise just 1.69% (£1,907) over the first quarter, the smallest increase of any place in Britain. Heywood, Greater Manchester (1.70%), and Spennymoor, County Durham (1.73%) saw the second and third slowest increase in values.
Lawrence Hall of Zoopla.co.uk said the housing market is at its strongest since the Lehman Brothers collapse.
“Confidence is beginning to return to the market, with both lenders and buyers seemingly more convinced that the worst of the economic crisis is behind us,” he said.
“Mortgage lending has improved markedly this year, which is unclogging the bottleneck at the lowest end of the market. This is starting to drive activity all the way up the housing chain and house prices have increased as a result, and for once not just in the South East. The East Midlands, Wales, and Yorkshire have all have seen prices increase more than London during the second quarter.”
