PROPERTY prices in Britain have hit there highest annual growth since 2007 adding to the concern of a housing bubble, according to property website Rightmove.
The largest rise in asking prices for houses in Britain between the December-January period came amid calls for more construction to boost supply.
Rightmove’s figures show a 1 per cent increase in property prices coming onto the market between December 9 and January 11 to reach £243,861 (€295.7k) on average. The data series began in 2002.
The property company also said that the rise contrasts with an average fall of 0.2 per cent in similar time periods during the Christmas holidays over the last 10 years.
Annual price growth was 6.3 per cent - the highest since November 2007 and more than three times the rate of inflation.
Asking prices in London recorded the strongest annual rise, with a 7.0% increase taking the average price to £514,704.
In recent months Britain’s housing market has benefited from falling unemployment, record low interest rates and government mortgage schemes, and has been developing faster than many of its competing economies.
The Bank of England announced it would remove incentives for mortgage lending under its Funding for Lending Scheme in November, in light of concerns about the speed of recovery in the market.
But the sector remains supported by the government’s Help to Buy mortgage guarantee programme.
Rightmove said there were early indications of an increase in supply of existing homes coming on the market in 2014 but said that more construction in the private and social sectors was required to meet demand.
See More: Property Prices, Rightmove, UK Housing Bubble
