Ealing performing well as national prices hit record highs

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• Both the Halifax and Nationwide House Price Indices for August record new record highs for UK house prices. The Halifax puts the average UK property price at £262,945, whilst the Nationwide figure is slightly lower at £248,857. For the Halifax, this represents a modest 0.7% rise on their July average price, but the Nationwide's 2.1% rise is their second largest gain recorded in 15 years.

  Although both lenders are reporting a rise in property prices, there is disagreement about where annual house price inflation is heading. According to the Nationwide, annual house price growth rose in August to 11.0%, up from 10.5% in July. The Halifax, however, calculate that the annual rate of house price inflation fell in August to 7.0%, down from 7.6% in July.

  The Nationwide notes that the August bounce in prices is "surprising", given the expected cooling in the market after the tapering of stamp duty relief at the end of June. They believe the market impetus may be coming from buyers of properties valued between £125,000 and £250,00 who can still make stamp duty savings of £2,500. They also point to the historically low supply of homes for sale and low interest rates as key drivers of price growth. The Halifax believe growing consumer confidence, due to the growth in job vacancies and a generally positive economic outlook, is driving the continuation of moves to larger homes to facilitate home working.

  The Nationwide offer some interesting insight into the effect of EPCs (Energy Performance Certificates) on house prices. Recent statistical analysis, carried out alongside their HPI data, allowed them to track how the energy efficient rating of a property affected its value. The data revealed that a top rating of A or B only led to a small 1.7% price premium compared to a property with a standard D rating. However, for properties rated at the bottom end of the scale at F or G, there was a bigger impact, with a 3.5% drop in value. They believe that, although energy efficient may only currently have a modest effect on house prices, in the future this may increase as the government increasingly incentivises energy efficiency to meet its climate change targets.

  In the Ealing market, there continues to be a difference in price growth for flats compared with houses. Newly released data from HM Land Registry shows that, on an annualised basis, prices of houses have grown by 0.8 per cent over the last five years, compared with -0.08 per cent for flats.

  Whilst both the Nationwide and the Halifax predict continued price growth in the near-term, they are less certain about what may happen in the new year. If unemployment rises with the end of government support schemes, there may be a reduction in demand with a corresponding softening in prices. But they emphasise that this is, at the moment, far from certain.

"Nationwide notes that the August bounce in prices is "surprising", given the expected cooling"

	Sales over time split by type The property market fluctuates on a seasonal basis, and this is particularly the case for sales rates. This chart shows how the market has changed over the course of the last few months. The mix of property types doesn't present any great surprises, but it's interesting to see the month-on-month changes visualised.
Index of prices over time Over the last twelve months we've seen pretty strong performance in the local market. We wanted to see how the market has performed over time, so we indexed the values at the start of the period. Property data updates quite slowly, so we've estimated the last 3 months.
	Profile of wealth The profile of wealth is a fairly good gauge of the day-to-day reality of residents in terms of the local housing market. The government has drawn attention to the large numbers of people in the country who are 'JAM's or 'just about managing'. This chart shows the profile of our area based on their socio-demographic profile.

Sales Market in

How many homes changed hands? in the last year

Sales numbers have changed by year-on-year

Average price in England & Wales Average price in London

By property type	Apartments	Terraced	Semi-detached	Detached
Average price
Price change last 12 months
Proportion of all sales	XX

Lettings Market in

What is the average rent for a house? per month	What is the average rent for a flat? per month	Rents have changed by in the last 12 months	What is the average rental yield? gross annual yield
What is the average age of local residents?	How old are first-time buyers on average?	What price point marks the top 5%?