UK house prices rise at the fastest pace in 15 years

UK house prices grew at the fastest rate in 15 years in 2021, reaching a record high as low-interest rates and a pandemic-induced race for more space boosted demand, and housing stock remained low.
According to data from the Nationwide Building Society, prices rose at an annual rate of 10.4 percent in December, making the calendar year performance the strongest since 2006. The average increase from early 2020, before the pandemic, was 16 per cent.
The price of a typical UK home rose to a record high of £254,822, up £23,902 over the year, the largest rise recorded in a single year in cash terms since Nationwide began collecting the data in 1991. Nationwide's chief economist Robert Gardner said, "Demand has remained strong in recent months, despite the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of September. At the same time, the stock of homes on the market has remained extremely low throughout the year, which has contributed to the robust pace of price growth."
Chief Executive of Garrington Property Finders, Jonathan Hopper said, "Despite maintaining a blistering pace for most of the year, and in the face of the Omicron variant, price growth still managed a sprint finish." Nationwide calculated that in London the average deposit is now £88,000, corresponding to 183 per cent of the average annual gross income in the capital, strongly up from a decade ago. As a result, "another year of double-digit price rises seems unlikely", said Hopper.