The average price of flats has risen by 60% over the past ten years, compared to an average rise of 38% for all other residential property types, new research has revealed.
According to the research by Halifax, the average price of a flat in the UK has risen by £87,550 (£730 per month) over the past decade, from £145,874 in 2005 to £233,424 today. However, a big proportion of the national rise in flat prices since 2005 is due to the rapid increase in flat prices in London (67%), where flats represent a relatively high proportion of the overall property market (49% of sales compared with the UK average of 17%).
Detached homes (21%) and bungalows (28%) have recorded the smallest rises over the last ten years.
A typical flat currently costs less than £120,000 in the North, East Midlands, Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber, and between £120,000 and £145,000 in the North West, West Midlands, Scotland and East Anglia. At £370,281, a typical London flat is considerably more expensive than flats anywhere else in the UK.
Semi-detached and terraced homes have apparently remained the most popular types of property purchased over the past ten years. Combined, these two types represent 59% of all home sales in 2015; up marginally from 58% in 2005.
Semi-detached homes have risen in popularity among first-time buyers, accounting for 28% of purchases in 2015 compared with 21% in 2005. However, flat sales have fallen from 20% of all property sales to 17% over the past decade.
The research also found that there has been a far more significant increase in the number of first-time buyers over the past five years compared with the number moving home. This difference is reflected in a bigger rise in prices since 2010 for those property types – flats and terraces – that are most popular with first-time buyers.
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