The average UK house price saw a rise of £12,801, and now stands at £285,579, according to Halifax’s recently released UK Housing Market Review and Outlook for 2023.
The review found that annual house price growth saw a 4.7% increase (year to November 2022), having peaked at 12.5% in June, which was the strongest rate of annual growth since January 2005.
Additionally, results showed that average property prices are £46,403 (+19.4%) higher than they were at the onset of the pandemic (£239,176 in March 2020).
Andrew Asaam, homes director at Halifax, said: “It was a tale of two halves for the UK housing market in 2022.
“The year kicked off with average house prices continuing to rise at pace, still supported by low interest rates and strong demand from buyers.
“This meant the typical property had added more than £17,500 to its value by June.
“Following such rapid house price growth, and the growing economic headwinds, a slowdown was almost inevitable.
“We saw this play out with a flattening of house prices over the summer, before the -2.3% decrease recorded in November.”
Furthermore, the review also found that a new record high average property price was set in August 2022 (£293,992).
It was the North East of England saw the highest rate of annual property price inflation of any UK region or nation in the year to the end of November 2022 at +10.5%.
However, the South East of England recorded the biggest price increase, up by £28,068 over the past 12 months.
It was London that recorded the slowest rate of annual house price growth, standing at +5.2%, but at an average of £549,160, the region still has by far the most expensive average property price in all of the UK.
Asaam added: “It’s important to remember we saw some of the biggest house price increases the market has ever seen over the last few years.
“Between March 2020 and August 2022, the average house price increased by nearly £55,000 (23%) to £293,992, a new record high.
“As the increasing cost of living puts more pressure on household finances and rising interest rates impact customers’ monthly mortgage payments, there’s understandably now more caution among both buyers and sellers – particularly following recent market volatility – which has seen demand soften as people take stock.
He concluded: “Looking ahead to next year, it will clearly be a more challenging economic environment and the housing market will continue to rebalance to reflect these new norms.
“Though the limited supply of properties for sale will continue to support prices, the pandemic-driven surge in demand has receded, and we’re emerging out of more than a decade of record low interest rates.”
