New year boost for Sunderland home owners

House prices increased in the city in January, according to new Land Registry figures – contributing to the longer-term trend, which has seen property values in the area achieve 4.7% annual growth.

The average house price in Sunderland in January was £124,149 – a 1.7% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the North East, where prices decreased 1.3%, and the market in Sunderland also outperformed the 0.5% drop nationally.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the city rose by £5,600 – putting the area 11th among the North East’s 13 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Northumberland, where property prices increased on average by 13.7%, to £173,000.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Hartlepool lost 2.5% of their value, giving an average price of £108,000.

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in January – they increased by 2.2%, to an average of £128,722.

Over the last year, prices rose by 4.8%.

Owners of detached homes saw their value rise by 1.2% on the month – up 5.4% annually – to an average of £226,926.

The price of terraced homes rose by 1.7% monthly p- up 4.9% annually – to an average of £101,452.

Flat prices rose by 0.8% on the month – up 0.3% annually – to an average of £77,558.

First-time buyers in Sunderland spent an average of £108,200 on their property – £4,500 more than a year ago, and £12,200 more than in December 2015.

Buyers in the city paid 10.1% less than the average price in the North East – £138,000 - in January but regional property prices remain comparatively low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £249,000.

The most expensive properties in the North East were in North Tyneside – £178,000 on average.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average January sale price was £1.3m.