Wakefield house prices increased more than average in December

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 10.6% annual growth.

The average Wakefield house price in December was £167,497, Land Registry figures show – a 3.8% increase on November.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across Yorkshire and The Humber, where prices increased 1.1%, and Wakefield outperformed the 1.2% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Wakefield rose by £16,000 – putting the area seventh among Yorkshire and The Humber’s 24 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Richmondshire, where property prices increased on average by 24.3%, to £255,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Harrogate gained 1.3% in value, giving an average price of £295,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Wakefield in December – they increased 4.2%, to £131,341 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 10.5%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 3.6% monthly; up 12% annually; £268,373 average

Semi-detached: up 3.7% monthly; up 10% annually; £158,698 average

Flats: up 4.1% monthly; up 6.4% annually; £91,239 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Wakefield spent an average of £147,000 on their property – £13,000 more than a year ago, and £32,000 more than in November 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £190,000 on average in December – 29.4% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Wakefield compare?

Buyers paid 8.4% less than the average price in Yorkshire and The Humber (£183,000) in December for a property in Wakefield. Across Yorkshire and The Humber, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £252,000.

The most expensive properties in Yorkshire and The Humber were in Harrogate – £295,000 on average, and 1.8 times as much as in Wakefield. Harrogate properties cost 2.5 times as much as homes in Hull (£116,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average December sale price of £1.3 million could buy 13 properties in Burnley (average £98,000).

Factfile

Average property price in December

Wakefield: £167,497

Yorkshire and The Humber: £182,907

UK: £251,500

Annual growth to December

Wakefield: +10.6%

Yorkshire and The Humber: +10.4%

UK: +8.5%

Best and worst annual growth in Yorkshire and The Humber

Richmondshire: +24.3%

Harrogate: +1.3%