© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
The Halifax Quarterly Regional House Price Index shows that the average selling price of a flat has risen by 232% since 1997 Quarter 2 from £64,876 to £215,439 in 2007 Quarter 2. The increase in the average price of a flat has outpaced the 216% increase for all residential properties over the past decade.
Regionally, East Anglia has seen the sharpest increase in flat prices over the last ten years with a rise of 294% followed by the East Midlands (256%) and the South East (247%). The smallest increases have been in Scotland (196%) and Yorkshire & the Humber (206%).
Whilst flat prices have continued to rise rapidly over the past five years, the trend is different with flat prices rising more slowly than the average for all properties; 65% against 76%.
During the past year, flat prices nationally have risen by 27%. Prices have soared in Northern Ireland over the past 12 months (48%) and there has been a 25% increase in flat prices in Greater London. By contrast, there has been a modest fall in the average selling price of flats in Yorkshire & the Humber (-5%). This small decline, however, need to be seen in the context of the substantial increases recorded over the past few years.
Unsurprisingly, flat prices are significantly more expensive in London than elsewhere in the UK with flats in the capital currently selling at an average price of £319,567 substantially above the 3% stamp duty threshold of £250,000, presenting the average buyer with a stamp duty bill in excess of £9,000. Contrastingly, the average flat sells for less than the 1% stamp duty threshold of £125,000 in Yorkshire & the Humber, North, West Midlands and Wales. As a result, the average buyer of a flat in these regions pays no stamp duty. Prices are lowest in Wales where the average flat sells for £122,808.
New research from Birmingham Midshires shows that the average total return for a buy to let (BTL) investor was 13.0% over the past year to June 2007 (exclusive of fees and mortgage interest costs). This is up slightly from a total return of 11.9% for the year to June 2006.
The price of the typical Buy to Let property in the UK increased by 7.3% over the year to June 2007 to an average of £141,776. BTL house price growth has risen slightly over the past year from 6.0% in June 2006.
By region, total returns for BTL investors were highest in Northern Ireland (35.9%) over the year to June 2007, followed by Scotland (16.6%) and the South East (13.9%). The lowest total return for BTL investors over the past year has been in the East Midlands (9.6%).