House price growth in the UK’s main cities is at its lowest level since 2011

House price growth in the UK’s main cities is at its lowest level since 2011

House price growth in the UK’s main cities is at its lowest level since 2011, new figures suggest.

Property data supplier Hometrack claims ongoing prices falls in London and a sustained slowdown across cities in southern England has left average annual growth in 2018 at 2.6% – the lowest annual rate since 2011 when a 2% return was recorded.

Its figures showed house prices in the capital have fallen by 0.1% over the past 12 months, only the second time in 23 years that London has ended year with negative growth.

Edinburgh ends the year as the fastest growing city, up 6.6% annually, with price rises in Manchester and Birmingham also running at above 6%.

However, only four cities are registering higher levels of house price growth than this time a year ago – Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Newcastle.

The cities that have the seen the greatest slowdown are all located in the south of England – Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Bristol.

Over the course of 2019 Hometrack is predicting UK city house prices to rise by 2%.

Richard Donnell, insight director at Hometrack, said: “The fundamentals of housing affordability will shape the prospects for city house prices in 2019.

“This is already the case with flat to falling prices in the most unaffordable cities and above average growth in the more affordable areas.

“Ultimately, the speed at which affordability translates into price changes depends on economic factors, changes to mortgage rates and household sentiment. Brexit is the greatest driver of uncertainty in the near term and the prospects are for a slow start for the housing market in 2019.”