House prices hit for Sunderland home owners

Home owners in Sunderland took a pre-Christmas boost as average house prices in the city decreased in December, new figures show.

Data from the Land Registry show prices in the area decreased by one per cent – but the longer-term trend has seen property values in the area grow by 9.5% over the last year.

The average house price in December in Sunderland was £144,669 – a rise of £12,000 over the year – but the December fall was a little worse than the housing market across the region, where prices decreased by 0.5%.

Prices in the area also under-performed the national market which saw a 0.4% drop in values.

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest fall in property prices Sunderland in December.

They dropped by 1.2% to an average of £117,928 but, over the last year, rose by 9.6%.

Detached home values fell by 0.9% monthly – but still up 9.7% annually – to £271,250 on average.

The prices paid for a semi-detached was down by one per cent monthly – up 9.6% annually – to an average of £150,297.

Flat values were down 0.5% over the month – but up 7.8% annually – to £87,157 on average.

First-time buyers in Sunderland spent an average of £126,000 on their property – £11,000 more than a year ago, and £26,000 more than in December 2017.

Buyers in the area paid 11.6% less than the average price in the North East (£164,000) in December.

Nationally house prices ended last year £26,000 higher than when 2022 started, although the annual pace of growth in property values is slowing.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show values increased by 9.8% in 2022, although the market weaken significantly in November and December.

The average UK house price in December was £294,000 – £26,000 higher than 12 months earlier.

The average UK house price in December was down from £296,000 in November.

Frances McDonald, research analyst at estate agent Savills, said: "There is an increasing expectation that inflation has peaked but borrowers still face a considerable increase in their mortgage costs which means we likely haven't seen the end of house price falls.

"But we do expect them to continue to be more modest."