The UK housing market has made the strongest start to the year since 2005.
The average price of a UK property now costs £255,556, which is 11.2% higher than last year and 0.8% higher than last month. In January 2021, the average house price in the UK cost £216,000.
“Housing demand has remained robust,” said Robert Gardner, the chief economist at Nationwide.
“Mortgage approvals for house purchase have continued to run slightly above prepandemic levels, despite the surge in activity in 2021 as a result of the stamp duty holiday, which encouraged buyers to bring forward their transactions to avoid additional tax.”
“Indeed, the total number of property transactions in 2021 was the highest since 2007 and around 25% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic struck.”
“At the same time, the stock of homes on estate agents’ books has remained extremely low, which is contributing to the continued robust pace of house price growth,” he added.
Many forecasters think that the housing market will cool later in 2022.