House prices still short of pre-recession levels

The average house price in Rochford was £231,595 in 2011. This is 1% higher than the average house price in 2007 of £229,666.

The average South Lakeland property price was £212,457 and only £183 higher than the average property price in the district in 2007.

The nine worst performers in house price terms over recent years are all in Northern Ireland. The biggest decline has been in Craigavon where the average price has more than halved from £213,844 in 2007 to £103,383 in 2011.

There have been similar falls in other areas of Northern Ireland.

Average prices in Northern Ireland were the highest in the UK outside London and the South East in 2007. Northern Ireland now has the lowest average prices of any region in the country.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: “The whole UK has been hit hard by the economic downturn of the last few years. There are only two areas of the country where house prices are currently higher than they were at the peak of the boom in 2007 and even here the increases are marginal.

“A striking feature of our analysis of the areas that have fared best and worst in the past four years is a distinct north-south divide. Those areas that have weathered the storm best are nearly all in the south whereas those areas worst affected are all outside southern England.

“Northern Ireland has done particularly badly as much of the sharp gains in the years prior to 2007 have since been reversed.”