House prices across the UK increased by £27,000 over the course of last year, new official figures have revealed.
Data produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the typical UK home cost £275,000 in December. This marked a year-on-year increase of 10.8 per cent.
Wales saw the largest increase of the four nations, up 13 per cent to £205,000. Scottish prices rose 11.2 per cent to £180,000, while England and Northern Ireland both experienced jumps of 10.7, taking the average figures to £293,000 and £159,000 respectively.
Such figures might be seen by some as a deterrent to getting on the housing ladder. However, anyone looking for a low credit mortgage would be as well taking this step now, as renting does not necessarily offer a compelling alternative.
While the cost of renting has not risen as fast, with a two per cent overall rise in the 12 months to January 2022, the ONS noted this was still the fastest rate of increase since 2017, with rents increasing in every region.
There were, however, regional variations in rents, with London seeing an average increase of just 0.1. This reversed the falls seen in 2020 caused by the pandemic, when life in the big city was less attractive due to the closure of so many of the attractions of the metropolis combined with the confined nature and difficulty of social distancing in densely populated areas.
If London rents were discounted, the average cost was up by three per cent.
Now may be a good time to get a mortgage with a fixed rate, which could protect against rising borrowing costs caused by a series of base rate rises.
Faced with the steepest rise in the cost of living in 30 years, the Bank of England has raised the base rate in each of its last two meetings, firstly from 0.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent and then to 0.5 per cent.
It remains to be seen if the Monetary Policy Committee decides it needs to tighten up further to curb inflation over the coming months.
