Newport best performing house prices of 2018 with 10.6% surge

Prices in Aberdeen fell further than any other UK town or city outside London.

Newport best performing house prices of 2018 with 10.6% surge

Newport, South Wales saw the biggest jump in house prices of any UK town or city in 2018, Land Registry data revealed this morning.

Average property prices in Newport rose an impressive 10.6% to £182,505 while Aberdeen suffered the worst fall outside London, dropping 6.5% to £152,799, latest official statistics show.

The average growth rate across the UK was 2.6% last year, according to analysis by Gatehouse Bank, with 318 (78.3%) of all 406 local authorities saw prices rise in 2018, while 88 (21.7%) saw them fall.

The second best performing area was also in South Wales with Merthyr Tydfil experiencing a rise of 9.7% to £106,228 and in third place was Nuneaton, Warwickshire where prices climbed 9.3% to £181,987 on average.

The overall performance of house prices in 2018 was revealed today with the release of December 2018 house price data from the Land Registry.

Charles Haresnape, chief executive of Gatehouse Bank, said: “It was an unpredictable year for house prices in 2018 and in the end, although the market only just outpaced inflation on the whole, there were still some stand out performances.

“Increases of 10.6% in Newport and 9.7% in Merthyr Tydfil are pretty striking when you consider the political instability that has weighed on the UK since the Brexit vote.

“Poor performances like that seen in Aberdeen, which fell 6.5%, are proof that the cocktail of economic uncertainty, lack of housing supply and a raft of buyer incentives and cheap borrowing are creating a heady mix of outcomes across the country.

“Of course, a strong increase in one year is no guarantee of future success. Indeed, only three places in 2017’s top ten appear in 2018’s top flight, with first place Cambridge dropping to 259th of all local authority areas last year.”

Pictured above: City Bridge, Newport