North-south house price divide reaches ‘record’

Southerners are typically putting their homes on the market for £336,743, compared with £164,347 in the northern regions.

The £170,000 chasm is the largest in monetary terms for house asking prices since Rightmove’s records began in 2002.

The monthly index revealed an overall 2.8 per cent increase in asking prices, a jump of £6,533 from mid September to reach £239,672 in mid-October.

But this rise was driven by the south, including London, the south east, the south west and East Anglia, which experienced a 4.7 per cent upsurge overall.

Read more: Is the housing market headed for profound change?

Meanwhile, the north, which for the purposes of the survey included Wales, the West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside, the north west and the north of England, fell back by 0.7 per cent in the space of a month, to levels first seen more than six years ago in May 2005.

Properties in some of the southern regions came onto the market at an all-time high. In London, the typical price was £450,210.

Rightmove’s monthly report is based on asking price listings on its website, covering around 90 per cent of homes for sale.

Signs of market recovery?

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “Wider access to mortgages and rising asking prices are early signs of increasing demand, giving homeowners some grounds for hope of a market recovery.

“However, the reality is that there is further evidence of a two-tier twist which is dogging the return to more widespread liquidity in the housing market.”

The report pointed out that areas grouped as the “north” for the survey have been badly hit by unemployment, so job concerns, particularly in the public sector, will be pushing house prices down.

Read more: To rent or buy? A tale of four cities.

Mr Shipside said: “If prices are perceived to be rising then buyers are afraid that their dream home could move out of their reach unless they act quickly.

“These drivers of higher volumes of transactions and more buoyant conditions are more prevalent in the south.”

He continued: “Low rate mortgage deals will only benefit those with the requisite high deposits, and at the moment the best equity growth has been seen in the London market.”