Manchester leads the way on house price growth

In Manchester prices have risen by 8.4% in the year to April 2017 to average £155,000.

Manchester leads the way on house price growth

City house prices are increasing at the greatest rate in Manchester, Hometrack’s UK Cities House Price Index has found.

In Manchester prices rose by 8.4% in the year to April 2017 to average £155,000.

Other strong areas are Leicester (7.7%), Birmingham (7.7%) and Nottingham (7.2%).

In contrast to this time last year when London and Cambridge prices were both growing at an annual rate of 13%, house price inflation now stands at 3.5% in the capital and 2.2% in the university city.

Richard Donnell, Insight Director at Hometrack says: “Looking ahead we expect current trends to continue with house price growth losing momentum in cities across southern England.

“This is due to record high housing affordability and subsequently a large numbers of households being priced out of the market.”

“Outside southern England, we anticipate prices will continue to increase over 2017 as households take advantage of record low mortgage rates and an improving economic outlook.

“On paper there still remains material upside for prices in the Midlands, northern England and Scotland but much depends on how market sentiment is impacted by factors such as the General Election, Brexit negotiations and rising inflation which will create a decline in real wage growth. “