New build home prices up 12% nationally in last five years

The average house price of new build property in the UK has increased by 12% over the past five years, research from the Halifax has found.

The average new build house now has an average price of £233,822 and is some 9% than the UK average house price for all properties.

Craig McKinlay, new mortgages director for Halifax, said: "In a relatively flat housing market the new homes market has changed enormously over the past five years.

“We have seen a lot of positive sentiment towards the new homes market with various schemes launched to get the house building industry moving and changes in policies and deposit requirements allowing shared equity buyers to participate more fully in the new build market.”

Halifax’s analysis also found that new build prices have increased by 40% during the last ten years.

Regionally the biggest rise in the past ten years has been in Greater London where the average price for a new home has risen by 57% to £415,540.

The north-south divide is as prevalent in the price of the new homes market as it is in the overall market.

Over the past five years more than half of UK regions saw the average price of new homes fall with the north experiencing the greatest fall of 10% to an average of £157,190.

In 2012 flats (37%) were the most popular type of new property sold followed by terraced homes (24%) and detached properties (23%).

Yorkshire and the Humber had the greatest proportion of terraced properties sold (30%) with Greater London seeing the highest proportion of sales of new build flats in 2012 (88%).

Peter Lawrence at Lawrence Rand said: “Surveys such as this are interesting but with the national picture containing such varied regional differences, it is important to look at the local and regional view.

New homes have traditionally achieved higher average prices than the equivalent second-hand homes and this continues to be the case.

With the Government having introduced incentives and assistance for mortgage borrowers buying new homes, it is likely that the sector, which has been operating on historically low levels of transactions in recent years will start to grow to meet demand.”