Recent figures from The Halifax confirming that average house prices in every town in the UK now top £100,000 are no reason to panic, states mortgage expert Andrew Frankish, managing director of Mortgage Talk, the UK's leading independent mortgage broker.
According to the Halifax survey, the town in Britain with the cheapest property is Lochgelly in Fife, where the average home costs £104,738, while the average house price for the whole of the UK passed £200,000 for the first time in February this year. A north-south divide has re-emerged, with London prices rising 14.9 per cent over the past year while average prices in the north of England have risen 5.6 per cent.
'These figures come as no surprise, as we have experienced a continuous growth in property prices for the last five years,' says Frankish. 'Although another interest rate rise is widely expected, we are still within the pattern of historically low rates established by the Bank of England some time ago.'
'The net result is result is that mortgage payments, expressed as a percentage of monthly salary still remain affordable and, as such, more lenders are basing their lending criteria on the issue of affordability rather than salary multiples, which is absolutely correct,' he adds.