Strong November for house prices

House price inflation continues to spiral, achieving an annual growth rate of 9.7 per cent in November, up from 8.7 per cent the previous month.

New figures from Assetz House Price Watch, which amalgamates the six major house price indices, show that the average homeowner can now expect their property to be priced just shy of £200,000, with annual growth having mushroomed from just 4.2 per cent at the beginning of the year.

The housing market specialists expect growth next year to continue in a similar vein at around eight to ten per cent.

Commenting on the figures, Stuart Law, managing director of Assetz, said: "The growing demand for homes, driven by high immigration and the forthcoming expansion of the EU to include such countries as Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, will be the main source of this growth.

"While the government is moving in the right direction by introducing planning legislation to help increase the output of new homes, this is unlikely to check house price rises in the next few years."

The housing market has been led by London and the south-east, where prices of the plushest pads are set to rocket following predictions that the City is due to issue almost £9 billion in Christmas bonuses.