Average UK House Prices Hit 100k everywhere

New quarterly house price stats (Q1 2007) from the Halifax show that for the first time no town in the UK has an average house price below £100,000. This is in sharp contrast to just 5 years ago when more than 200 towns had an average price below £100,000.

Lochgelly in Fife was the only town with an average price below £100,000 at the end of 2006. But price rises since then have taken the average price to £104,738. It remains the most affordable town - out of the 489 surveyed - in the UK, however.

Meanwhile, the ten towns that have seen the biggest house price rises during the last 12 months are all in Northern Ireland. This is the first time that all the towns in the top ten have all been in the same area of the UK.

Craigavon, a new town, and Newtownards in Northern Ireland are the UK's top property hotspots with both towns recording a 55% rise in prices over the past year. Average prices in Craigavon are up from £118,551 in Q1 2006 to £183,795 in Q1 2007. Average prices in Newtownards are up from £127,590 to £197,134.

The average price in Northern Ireland broke through the £200,000 barrier for the first time in Q1 2007 to £206,495. Indeed, the province is now one of the most expensive parts of the UK; only London, the South East and the South West have higher average house prices. Two years ago, Scotland was the only part of the UK with lower average house prices than Northern Ireland.

A strong local economy, high levels of immigration and high demand for properties from second homebuyers and buy-to-let investors in the Republic of Ireland have significantly boosted property prices in Northern Ireland over the past few years. As a result, the average house price there has risen by 76% since Q1 2005, far outstripping the UK average gain of 18%.

Across the Irish Sea a north/south divide has re-emerged in England over the past year with the most rapid price rises being seen in London, the South West and the South East as house price inflation has accelerated. By contrast, house price inflation has eased across northern England with inflation in single digits in the three northern English regions over the past 12 months.

Greater London (14.9%) has recorded the biggest increase in prices in England. The smallest price rises have been in the North (5.6%) and the East Midlands (5.8%).

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