Good news for South Tyneside home owners

House prices continue to rise in South Tyneside. (Picture by PA)

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £129,566 – significantly lower than the UK average of £226,798.

Across the North East, property prices have fallen by 0.8% in the last year, to £123,046. The region underperformed compared to the UK as a whole, which saw the average property value increase by 1.4%.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The average homeowner in South Tyneside will have seen their property jump in value by around £17,000 in the last five years.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in South Tyneside in March spent an average of £115,622 – around £15,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

Residential research analyst at estate agent Savills, Lawrence Bowles, said: "UK house prices rose 1.4% in the year to March 2019, according to the latest data from Land Registry.

"This marks an acceleration in growth since February, when annual house price inflation was just 1.0%. However, growth is slower than this time last year, when annual house price inflation was 4.0%.

"House prices in the north of England outperformed the south – every northern region bar the North East had house price growth faster than the national average, while all regions in the south saw price growth below UK levels.

"With mortgage rates still at historic lows, many parts of the UK have seen robust house price growth. We expect to see faster rates of house price growth in the more affordable regions in the north of England, Wales and Scotland over the next five years.

"In London and the south, where affordability is more stretched, we’re expecting slower levels of house price growth."

Between February last year and January this year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 1,795 homes were sold in South Tyneside, 6% fewer than in the previous year.

The highest house prices in the country in March were found in London's Kensington and Chelsea, where properties sold for an average of £1.16million – 15 times the cost of a home in Burnley, where the average property cost just £77,000.