Warwick house prices held steady in April

House prices remained steady in Warwick in April, new figures show.

The lack of movement maintains the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 9.2% over the last year.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties has remained the primary reason behind climbing house prices across the UK throughout the pandemic.

The need for larger deposits and constraints on accessing mortgages have pushed homeownership further out of reach for many first-time buyers – despite Government figures showing 50% of renters would be able to afford the monthly payments.

In a recent major speech in Blackpool, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “comprehensive review” of the mortgage market would take place in a bid to help more people onto the property ladder.

The average Warwick house price in April was £354,411, Land Registry figures show – largely unchanged from March.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across West Midlands, where prices increased 0.5%, and Warwick was lower than the 1.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Warwick rose by £30,000 – putting the area 23rd among West Midlands’s 30 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Herefordshire, where property prices increased on average by 18.3%, to £304,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Staffordshire Moorlands gained just 5.5% in value, giving an average price of £217,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Warwick spent an average of £287,000 on their property – £22,000 more than a year ago, and £48,000 more than in April 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £416,000 on average in April – 45% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Warwick in April – they increased 0.4%, to £643,840 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 13.1%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: up 0% monthly; up 10.5% annually; £376,428 averageTerraced: down 0% monthly; up 7.4% annually; £307,815 averageFlats: down 0.5% monthly; up 4.4% annually; £213,400 average

How do property prices in Warwick compare?

Buyers paid 46.4% more than the average price in West Midlands (£242,000) in April for a property in Warwick. Across West Midlands, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £281,000.

The most expensive properties in West Midlands were in Stratford-on-Avon – £386,000 on average, and 9% more than in Warwick. Stratford-on-Avon properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Stoke (£136,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in April

Warwick: £354,411West Midlands:£242,145UK: £281,161

Annual growth to April

Warwick: +9.2%West Midlands: +11.8%UK: +12.4%

Highest and lowest annual growth in West Midlands

Herefordshire: +18.3%Staffordshire Moorlands: +5.5%