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House Prices Increased At Highest Rate Since Global Financial Crisis

The record-breaking surge of the housing market has continued to break records during the busiest period of the property year, with house prices increasing at their fastest rate since 2007, before the global financial crisis.

According to Rightmove’s House Price Index, house prices increased by 2.3 per cent (£7,785), causing the average price of property coming to market to reach close to £350,000, nearly ten per cent higher than the same time last year.

For Hackney estate agents, the news was even starker, with house prices on average increasing by 15 per cent over the previous year.

The reason for this is a significant confluence of factors that has led to a major housing market rush of a type not seen since the end of the stamp duty reduction last year.

Part of it is to try and lock in a more favourable mortgage rate before an expected mortgage rate rise, which has already seen lenders cut hundreds of mortgage products and increase the interest rates on the ones that are still there, particularly amidst other expected increases to the cost of living.

Another is an inversion of the change of circumstances that caused the start of the surge in house prices in the first place. People who had moved further away due to work-from-home requirements are moving close to cities again or are trying to finalise purchases from the first wave of demand.

Add to this the fact that spring is historically a strong season to sell into, a continued disparity between buyer demand and seller availability and the continued fierce competition this has caused house prices to continue to climb.

However, with the number of new sellers listing their homes for sale increasing by 11 per cent compared with last year, property experts have claimed that the early signs have started to emerge of a more balanced housing market that was predicted at the start of the year.