Ten Years Of Rising House Prices

House prices have trebled in 40% of counties over the past ten years, according to figures from the Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender. The county with the biggest increase was in Northern Ireland: County Armagh, where the average cost of a home went up by 331% to £220,229 by 2007.

Property prices in Northern Ireland have soared in the last ten years thanks to a combination of a strong economy, immigration, and high demand from people buying second homes and buy-to-let property. Five of the top ten rising counties were in Northern Ireland; County Tyrone saw prices rise by 315%, and County Antrim saw a 293% rise.

Outside of Northern Ireland, Wales also fared well, with Carmarthenshire seeing a 287% rise and Anglesey seeing a 269% rise.

The only English counties to make it into the top ten were Cornwall with a 266% rise, and Devon with a 238% rise.

Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis commented: “The counties recording the best house price performance over the past ten years had mainly been outside southern England. Four of the five counties with the highest house price growth are in Northern Ireland, reflecting the strength of the housing market there over the past few years.”

In ten years all counties saw house prices at least double, and 44 of the 104 counties saw prices treble and more. Scotland had eight out of the ten lowest risers in the period.

Surrey is the county with the most expensive property, averaging £364,115, and Blaenau Gwent has the cheapest average property as £113,964 – but they rose from £36,658 in 1997.

Ten years ago no counties had average property prices of over £250,000; now 12 counties have an average higher than that.

Mr Ellis said: “There are now only 20 counties in the United Kingdom with an average house price below £150,000. Ten years ago every county was below the threshold.