Property asking prices in England and Wales have soared to a record high of £295,000, reveals research by Rightmove.
If house prices in London continue to rise at the current pace, the average home in the capital could cost £1m by 2020, adds the property portal.
Head of Rightmove, Miles Shipside, comments on the findings: “High demand, lack of suitable supply and increasingly stretched affordability are leading to some extremes in market forces in different sectors and parts of the country.”
The average increase of 0.9%, or £2,550, this month was the highest for September since 2002.
Outside London, the average asking price is £294,834. In the capital, which has experienced a 9.5% rise over the last year, the typical property has an asking price of £620,003.
Shipside says this “illustrates the desperate need for more building and more affordable housing in and around the capital”1.
Some counties in the south, such as Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex, witnessed greater growth than London.
However, the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands, East Midlands and Wales saw monthly declines.
1 Shaw, V. (2015) ‘Asking price of average home hits a record £295k’, Metro, 21 September, p.32