Prices rise but regional divides grow

New figures have shown that house prices are still growing across Britain, despite the recent market slowdown.

Nationwide figures for the fourth quarter of 2007 indicate that there was a seasonally adjusted one per cent rise in prices across the land.

However, this was down from the 1.6 per cent figure for the third quarter.

Another notable feature revealed in the survey was a growing trend of regional variation, with Northern Ireland, Scotland and London well above average for price growth and the north plus parts of the midlands falling behind.

This was reflected in the list of the hottest and coolest cities for house price growth, with Belfast having the highest increases, followed by Aberdeen, London, Oxford and St Albans.

In contrast, the three weakest cities were in the north-east (Durham, Newcastle and Sunderland), followed by Nottingham and Sheffield.

Yesterday's Land Registry figures showed that the north-east was the only region to see prices fall in November (by 0.9 per cent), while the east Midlands had zero growth.


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