Biggest rise in UK house prices for six years

House prices saw their biggest monthly increase for six years in May, caused by a shortage of homes for sale and rising demand - largely in the capital, a report found today.

From April prices rose 0.4 per cent, the strongest uplift since May 2007, with the drive coming 'almost exclusively from London and the South East', property analyst Hometrack said.

Prices rose 0.9 per cent in the capital, where the gap between supply and demand was at its largest since spring 2009 - while demand has grown 15 per cent in six months, supply has dwindled by 0.6 per cent. 

In the South East prices bumped up 0.5 per cent, while across the rest of the country they rose at a more serene 0.1 per cent.

Across England and Wales, the volume of homes coming onto the market grew by 2.8 per cent in May, but this was outstripped by an 8.2 per cent increase in sales being agreed.

Prices edged up month-on-month by 0.3 per cent in East Anglia, by 0.2 per cent in the South West and by 0.1 per cent in the Midlagnds. 

They were flat month-on-month in the North East, the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside and Wales.

Peter Rollings, CEO of Marsh & Parsons, commented: 'We find at least 98 per cent of the asking price is generally achieved on prime London properties, and in excess of the asking price in very high-demand areas such as South and South West London. There is a general feel of optimism in the air with wider signs of economic recovery showing strong indicators of future growth prospects.

'Today’s figures show the London property market continuing to operate in its own microclimate, driving growth in UK house prices overall. The figures demonstrate the huge demand for London property with properties are selling at twice the speed of the rest of the UK. We expect this to increase even further as both overseas and domestic buyers strive in competition for the best properties.'

Top 10 global cities for millionaires

Market analysts have calculated the top ten global cities for millionaires, here are the results.

• Tokyo tops the millionaire list

• London tops the multi-millionaire list

• New York tops the billionaire list

Which global cities contain the most US dollar millionaires?

It’s an elusive statistic that cannot be found in the public domain.

WealthInsight, a London based wealth consultancy, has changed this by releasing a comprehensive list of the top 20 cities for millionaires worldwide. 

According the WealthInsight analyst Andrew Amoils:

“Tokyo tops our millionaire list and is surprisingly above New York. This is partly due to the fact that many wealthy New Yorkers live off the Island in cities such as Greenwich”

Global Cities ranked by millionaires, 2012

Rank	City	Number of millionaires (000s)
1	Tokyo	461
2	New York City (Manhattan)	389
3	London	281
4	Paris	219
5	Frankfurt	217
6	Beijing	213
7	Osaka	190
8	Hong Kong	187
9	Shanghai	166
10	Singapore	157

Source: WealthInsight © WealthInsight

Asking price record tumbles

• The national average asking price record has tumbled, almost breaking the £250,000 Mark, according to the Rightmove House Price Index. 
• It was a South-led price surge as London, South East and East Anglia hit all-time highs.
• In London Camden led the 3.3% price surge with prices up 7.2%, going past the £1m mark. 
• Buyers in the capital were facing new sellers’ average asking prices in excess of £500,000 for the first time. 
• The typical property in the capital is now more than twice as expensive as the national average.
• The national average asking price stands at £249,841, as new sellers raise prices by 2.1% (+£5,135) this month. This is the fifth consecutive monthly rise leaves prices 9.1% (+£20,852) higher year-to-date, the strongest price start to a year since 2004
• East Anglia saw 4% increases to an average asking price of £233,000, while the South East was up 1.8%.
• The North saw price rises of 4.2%, while in Wales prices were up 1%. The North West was up 1.7%, Yorkshire and Humberside and the East Midlands 1.2%, West Midlands 0.2% and and the South West 0.6%.
• Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst comments: “The tumbling of records is being driven by the equity-rich generation with a definite southern bias, though agents in most parts of the country are reporting strong demand for well-priced and decent-quality stock. Despite a new national record, it’s not ‘green-shoots of recovery’ across the board, especially for the deposit-strapped mass-market. They must wait patiently until January when the Help to Buy scheme extends to the resale market, unless new homes developers can increase building dramatically this year.”