Monday 23rd April 2007
Average property prices in every British town have surpassed the £100,000 market for the first time, according to the Halifax bank.
In Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland prices continue to rise, with once depressed towns now seeing the fastest-growing prices.
Northern Ireland is now the fourth most expensive region to buy property in the UK, behind London, the south-east and south-west.
Craigavon, in County Armagh, saw average prices grow 55 per cent from £118,551 to £183,795. Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland, was the last town in the country to have average prices below £100,000.
The former mining town remains the place with cheapest average properties among the 489 towns surveyed, but the typical home now costs £104,738.
Prices in London rocketed during February and March, buoyed by £19 billion in bonus payments to a price rise of 14.9 per cent.
Despite the growth Halifax forecasted slower advances this year because of recent interest rises.
Highest average prices in Greater London are likely to surpass the £300,000 market in the next quarter, Halifax predicted.
Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis said: "House prices continue to rise in a tight market but there are emerging signs that pressure on householders' finances, partly due to the rise in interest rates since last August, is dampening demand."
|
Property
News that the usually lucrative month of October has seen the public purse pushed further into debt for the first time in 14 years has sparked serious criticism of Gordon Brown's recent policy.... 
