House prices on the up

11:55am Thursday 18th May 2006

Returning confidence in the property market has pushed prices in Surrey up by eight per cent, with the volume of sales up by half.

Figures from the Land Registry on Tuesday showed price increases in Surrey are outstripping London as a whole, where prices went up by an average 6.29 per cent since last year. The average cost of a Surrey house between January and March this year was £318,980.

In Weybridge the average house price has leapt 14.8 per cent from £426,848 in spring last year to £489,861.

The number of houses changing hands went from 88 to 127 up 44 per cent.

The change in Esher was less dramatic with a two per cent rise from an average £539,374 to £549,319, and sales were up 40 per cent.

In Cobham, sales were up 57 per cent, from 46 houses sold to 72, as the average price rose from £603,643 to £630,162.

Simon Jordan, branch manager of Hamptons estate agents on Esher High Street, said the rise was actually lower than he thought, as buyer confidence is very high.

He said: "The difference has been enormous since the beginning of the year and there has been a run of confidence in the market since last year.

"The media made it sound like the back was coming off the market and there were a lot of people who moved into rented accommodation where they stood to gain from any drop."

Mr Jordan said the high demand has been made stronger by the fact many wealthy buyers are actually buying second homes and not selling their original one choosing to rent it out as an investment.

He added: "We have had a number of cases of gazumping and multiple bids.

"That just didn't happen in the industry last year.

"Many first-time house buyers have been borrowing from banks against large salaries, and the average age is usually mid-30s."