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Cheap mortgages a necessity as property prices increase

Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006

More house buyers are shopping around for a cheap mortgage deal as property prices continue to rise.

A survey by property website Rightmove.co.uk revealed that the average UK house price rose by £2,048 in the first week of the New Year. This is the largest increase in a week since May 2004 and reversed the December trend of a 0.1 per cent fall in asking prices.

According to Rightmove.co.uk, the average asking price in the UK now stands at £196,319 - 3.6 per cent higher than at the start of 2005. This means that more first-time buyers will be looking to ensure they get a cheap mortgage deal.

There were some regional variations in prices – with properties in London and the south-east seeing a 1.3 per cent rise in asking prices, compared to a 4.1 per cent fall in the south-west area.

"Whilst it’s still a buyers’ market, prospective purchasers now need to think about how long it will remain in their favour if these increases continue," said Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove.

He added: "London and the south-east have had a couple of tough years of acclimatising themselves already and are now coming out the other side. Without their strong performance, the national figures would have been in negative territory."


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