House prices rose by 0.8 per cent during the past month as the mini-boom continued in southern regions, figures show today.
The jump during the five weeks to June 10, which followed an increase of two per cent during the preceding four weeks, added around #1,613 to the cost of the average home in England and Wales, pushing average prices up to #211,442.
At the same time the annual rate of growth accelerated to 6.4 per cent for the year ending June 10, up from 5.9 per cent four weeks earlier, according to property website Rightmove.
But the overall figure masked a sharp difference in price growth for different areas of the country, with the cost of a home in southern regions 9.4 per cent higher than a year ago, while in northern regions house prices have risen by just 2.7 per cent during the past 12 months.
In London, house prices have gained an average of 11.7 per cent during the past year, while in the North they have crept ahead by just 0.1 per cent.
In the West Midlands the annual rise was 2.5 per cent, pushing the average cost of a home up to #183,477.
The group said the booming southern market, combined with price falls in some northern regions, had ended the trend of northern house prices catching up with southern ones. It added that the average property in the South was now 55 per cent more expensive than one in the North, compared with a low of 46 per cent nine months ago.
Rightmove also warned that the situation was set to become more pronounced if interest rates went up, as is widely expected, as higher borrowing costs would hit hardest any activity in regions that were further away from London. The group said southern markets were being driven by demand for top-end properties from cash-rich buyers.
East Anglia saw the biggest price jump during the five weeks to June 10, with prices soaring by 3.7 per cent. In the West Midlands prices fell 0.7 per cent.
