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U.K. House Prices Register Fastest Annual Growth Since 2007

Values surged 10.2% from a year earlier, the largest increase since August 2007.

U.K. House Prices Register Fastest Annual Growth Since 2007
A pedestrian passes colorful terraced houses in the Notting Hill district of London, U.K. (Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg)

U.K. house prices rose in March at their fastest annual pace since the financial crisis as tax incentives and a brightening economic outlook injected renewed vigor into the property market.

Values surged 10.2% from a year earlier, the largest increase since August 2007, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday, citing Land Registry data. Prices surged 1.8% in March alone, more than in any month since April 2014. The average value now stands at a record 256,405 pounds ($363,609).

The surge came after Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended a tax cut on property purchases, saving buyers as much 15,000 pounds. Surveys suggest the housing market picked up momentum in April as coronavirus lockdown restrictions began to ease, raising hopes that prices will weather the phasing out of the stamp-duty holiday from the end of next month.

U.K. House Prices Register Fastest Annual Growth Since 2007

In March, house prices rose fastest in northeast England and Yorkshire and The Humber, adding to evidence that people forced to work from home during the pandemic are taking the opportunity to move out of big urban centers. Values in London and southeast England rose just 1%.

Prices in the U.K. capital have risen just 3.7% over the past 12 months, by far the lowest growth rate of any region. They’re still almost double the national average at 500,310 pounds.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.