National house prices rose slightly in January, according to the latest Hometrack survey, the impetus coming from London where continuing improvement in demand resulted in average prices rising by 0.2%.
The average national price for an apartment/
maisonette in January was £125,400.
Despite the modest growth in the wake of the festive season, homebuyers are putting their confidence back in the housing market this year, with almost 80% expecting UK house prices to rise in 2006. Halifax is predicting 3% annual house price inflation, Nationwide between 0%-3% and Hometrack 1%.
Meanwhile, landlord property rents and values rose strongly at the end of 2005 as investors purchased higher value properties, according to Paragon’s Buy-to-Let Index. The average size of landlords’ property portfolios is now £1.45m, compared with £1.37m three months ago. Landlords in the North and East Anglia are leading the way in buying more expensive investment properties. Rental incomes were up 4.1% in December on the previous month. Nationally, rental yields have remained stable at 6.4% for the past 4 months.
