Islington records UK’s highest house price growth of 2020 at 13.4%
Islington in north London has shown the fastest house price growth over 2020, with the average property rising 13.4% to £727,922, according to the estate agent Halifax.
At the other end of the table, the price of an average home in Paisley, west of Glasgow, declined by 1.7% to £138,036.
While in many London boroughs average house prices rose much more quickly than last year, Hackney, which borders Islington in north-east London, recorded a 1.5% decline to £636,000 to become the second-biggest faller.
Overall the London average house price was up 6%, taking nine of the top 20 places. Croydon, south London, had the second biggest rise in the capital at 10.9%.
Outside London, Leeds was in second place overall, recording a 11.3% rise to £247,116, followed by Wolverhampton, with a 9.5% rise to £217,837.
Russell Galley, Halifax’s managing director, said: “Much like many other things about 2020, it would have been hard to predict which areas would see the greatest movement in average house prices this year. For example, depending on the borough, you could be looking at the biggest price rise or the biggest falls in the capital.
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“House prices have leapt by more than 11% in Yorkshire’s great cosmopolitan city of Leeds and almost 10% in Wolverhampton at the heart of the Black Country.
“Further north, Doncaster and Inverness have also seen healthy growth and whilst the overall house price trend this year has been upward, anyone looking to buy in Paisley, Hackney or Aberdeen will find homes cost a little bit less than last year.”
Inverness, in the Highlands – where homes now cost an average of £195,534 – recorded Scotland’s highest house price rises this year, with an average increase of 8.1%. That compares with no increase at all between 2018 and 2019. In Edinburgh, property prices rose by 6% to an average of £274,246.
On the other hand, in Aberdeen and Falkirk house prices fell by 1.4% and 0.8% respectively – the third and fourth biggest fallers in the UK overall. Buyers can expect to pay £200,810 on average for a home in Aberdeen or £175,789 in Falkirk.
In London, even some of the closest neighbours have some of the biggest contrasts. Islington, Croydon, Hounslow, Romford, Richmond, Kingston, Lambeth, Sutton and Hillingdon have all experienced some of the biggest house prices increases in the year. Over the same period, Hackney, Merton, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Haringey and Wandsworth all recorded either a drop or some of the lowest annual growth rates when looking across the UK as a whole.
