House prices hit new heights in London's cheapest borough: Barking and Dagenham records rise of £55k in a year

Property prices throughout the capital are continuing to rise as new figures show the highest growth in London's outer regions.
The Barking riverside section of the Thames Gateway is one of the capital's largest regeneration areas
Kristy Gray25 February 2016

Property prices in London have hit a new record this month, with the steepest rises recorded in the capital's most affordable borough, Barking and Dagenham.

According to new figures from Rightmove, new seller asking prices have increased in 23 out of 32 boroughs as more owners put their homes on the market ahead of the spring sales rush.

Home hunters are already targeting areas on the outer edges of London to find more affordably priced homes. Yet it's the capital's cheapest borough - Barking and Dagenham - that has recorded the highest annual hikes, adding an eye-watering £55,000 to the area's average asking prices in just one year.

Average house prices in every London borough (February 2016)

1/32

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, comments: “While first-time buyer properties will be at the cheaper end of the £291,638 average in Barking & Dagenham, those that were hoping 2016 would be their step onto the housing ladder have found that the first rung is now set far higher than a year ago."

The latest price hikes follow the recent extension of the Government's 'Help to Buy London' scheme, which aims to help cash-strapped buyers onto the property ladder. However, with average asking prices across the capital now reaching an all-time high of £643,843, even buyers using the scheme will be priced out of many London districts.

Mortgage guarantees for Help to Buy are capped at 4.5 times annual income, with equity loans covering new-build properties valued up to £600,000.

Simon Woodcock, Managing Director of Robinson Michael & Jackson in Medway said: "Only three of the homes we sold to first timers in January were bought with Help to Buy’s aid. Instead, we are seeing a resurgence of the Bank of Mum and Dad. Many parents are remortgaging to release equity from their own homes to pass on to their children."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in