Northamptonshire house prices rising quicker than national average

The latest available data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £228,842 - slightly under the UK average of £231,422.

House prices rises in the county have far outstripped the national average increase of 3.1%.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The average homeowner in Northamptonshire will have seen their property jump in value by around £73,000 in the last five years.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Northamptonshire in July spent an average of £192,607 - around £62,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

Lawrence Bowles, associate director of the research team at estate agents Savills, said the slowing national house price growth reflected a “stricter lending environment”.

“People are also waiting until we have got a clear idea on what Brexit means, before they make a big financial decision like buying a house,” he explained.

Mr Bowles said the uncertainty was affecting the capital the most, as it was the most international city in the UK.

He continued: “We are also starting to see a reverse ripple effect, which originally only hit London but now house prices in the South East and East of England are slowing as well.

“As house prices in London rose out of reach of many buyers, they looked out to the South East and East where they could get more house for their money.

“Now, house price affordability in those regions has also become stretched.”

Mr Bowles said this had caused buyers to stop commuting to London, and look further afield.

“The North West was the fastest growing region in July, recording 5.6% house price inflation. That’s driven by strong growth in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool.

“The South West, West Midlands, Wales, Yorkshire, and Scotland also outperformed the UK average.”

Between May last year and April this year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 14,103 homes were sold in Northamptonshire, 2% fewer than in the previous year.

The highest house prices in the country in July were found in Kensington and Chelsea, London, where properties sold for an average of £1.42 million - 17 times the cost of a home in Blaenau Gwent, where the average property cost just £82,298.