Edinburgh tops UK city house price growth in year to September 2017
House prices in key cities in the UK increased by 4.9% year on year in September with Edinburgh seeing the biggest growth at 6.7%, the latest index shows But annual growth is down from the 6% recorded a year ago although a number of cities are still seeing strong growth. As well as Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bournemouth and Leicester are all seeing annual growth well above the average. The Hometrack index also shows that price growth in London has stabilised at 2.3% per annum but over four fifths of markets in the capital city have recorded real house price falls. Even although annual growth is down, the quarterly rate of growth is at the highest level for 14 months and the report says that this trend has been supported by a nationwide increase in housing sales over the last quarter compared to the previous 12 months. This unseasonal increase in sales is likely a result of households delaying purchases earlier in the year at the time of the general election. At the other end of the scale Aberdeen is still the only city to see annual price growth decline but in the year to September 2017 this was just 1.8% compared to the fall of 10.6% recorded in the year to September 2016. There are four other cities where the current level of nominal house price growth is below the rate of consumer price inflation, namely Cambridge, Oxford, London and Cardiff with annual growth of 1.7%, 2.4%, 2.3% and 2.4% respectively. In London house price growth year on year ranges from growth of 4% in Epping Forest and Gravesham to a fall of 5% in the City of London. There are six markets where house prices are falling in nominal terms, primarily those in inner London and Hometrack says that further price falls in real terms are inevitable as prices re-align to what buyers are willing to spend.
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