Internal migration pushes up house prices

This is equivalent to a weekly increase of £183. Overall house prices have risen by an average of 96% across all the local authority districts surveyed.

The rate of home ownership is also typically higher in areas that have seen the biggest net gains from internal migration over the past decade.

Halifax estimated that the average rate of owner occupancy in the 20 local authority areas that received the biggest lift from net internal migration since 2000 is 76%.

This is significantly higher than the average of 52% across the 20 biggest net losers from internal migration, which includes a number of areas within major cities such as London and Birmingham.

Suren Thiru, housing economist at Halifax, said: “The substantial population shifts across England and Wales appear to have had a marked impact on the housing market over the past decade.

“House price growth has generally been stronger in the areas that have proved to be the most popular locations for people to move to from elsewhere in the country, reflecting the importance of population changes as a key driver of housing demand.

“The figures also highlight the transient nature of the population in many of our major urban conurbations with the levels of home ownership much lower in the main cities compared to other parts of the country.”