According to the latest National Office of Statistics data, UK property prices are up 13.2% on last year. Based on information from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the average property price is now £265,668.
Figures for Tattenham & Preston differ considerably. The average property price is considerably higher at £486,200 but the percentage increase, much lower at around 5.5%. [See box below for how Tattenham & Preston data has been calculated].
The highest percentage increase was in the North-West, where prices were up 18.6%.
The Stamp Duty holiday exempting tax on the first £500,000 of property prices from July 2020 increased activity in the property market leading to price increases. This is now dropping to £250,000 until the end of October before returning to the original amount of £125,000. At its peak, this was saving purchasers £7,500 but probably led to similar increases in prices.
As property prices in our area are often above the £500,00 figure, the impact of this concession has been less significant in Tattenham & Preston.
Whilst Stamp Duty has had a short-term impact on prices, another is the availability of finance at reasonable interest rates and mortgages have been freely available recently. But the main reason for continued property price increases is down to basic economics – supply and demand. There are not enough properties available to meet the demand. The Government has a target to increase housing by 300,00 a year by the mid-2020s but this is not considered enough and is unlikely to be achieved.
In the Tattenham & Preston area prices have doubled over the last 17 years from £240,717 in 2004 to £486,200 today.
The chart below shows the current average prices by property type in our area.
Based on The Land Registry’s UK House Price Index – May 2021
And this next chart shows how prices have changed over the past ten years by the four major classifications: detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses, and flats & maisonettes.
Based on The Land Registry’s UK House Price Index – May 2021
We will be providing regular updates on Tattenham & Preston property prices in future issues of T&PR eNEWS.
(Note: If you want to see how much it cost to buy a house in the area in 1934 check out this page !)
How we have calculated data for Tattenham & Preston
The Land Registry registers the title of land and property in England and Wales. Every time a property is sold, it is a legal requirement to inform The Land Registry of the sale which is recorded in the title deeds of the property.
It publishes monthly statistics of such transactions which are used to estimate average property prices across the country. The information is more accurate than estate agent and building society statistics because it includes ALL transactions and is based on the price paid rather than the sale price advertised. But because it can take up to two months for data to be registered it can trail behind actual current prices.
Data is available by local authority areas. We are located in the north of the Borough of Reigate & Banstead. Because our borough stretches from Horley in the south to Tattenham & Preston in the north and property is slightly cheaper in the south of the borough, we have decided to use property prices for our neighbouring borough of Epsom & Ewell as more realistically reflecting prices in our area.
We have also used data for England to compare against rather than UK data which also includes Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
It should also be acknowledged that these are only average prices, and the actual cost of a property may vary significantly depending on size, condition, number of bedrooms and availability of amenities.