House prices in Scarborough declined by 0.4% in January, despite a 0.4% rise over the last 12 months, new data shows
House prices in Scarborough declined slightly, by 0.4%, in January, despite witnessing a 0.4% rise over the last 12 months.
The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £164,480 – significantly lower than the UK average of £228,147.
Across Yorkshire and The Humber, property prices have risen by 2.9% in the last year, to £160,420.
The region outperformed the UK as a whole, which saw the average property value increase by 1.7%.
The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The average homeowner in Scarborough will have seen their property jump in value by around £23,000 in the last five years.
The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Scarborough in January spent an average of £141,345 – around £19,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.
Between December 2017 and November last year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 2,227 homes were sold in Scarborough, 9% fewer than in the previous year.
Residential research analyst at estate agent Savills, Lawrence Bowles, said that house prices had dropped nationally in real terms for the first time in five years.
Bowles said that this month’s ONS house price index shows slowing growth, with UK house prices growing just 1.7% in the year to January 2019. That’s compared to 4.3% growth this time last year. It’s also below inflation for the same period – 1.8% – which means UK house prices have fallen in real terms for the first time since July 2013.
He said that regions in the Midlands and North are still showing robust house price growth: Wales showed the fastest house price growth in Britain, followed by the midlands.
Affordability in these regions is less constrained than in London and the south, which leaves more capacity for prices to rise.
