HOUSE prices in Newport have reached a new record high.

Prices in Newport reached a new peak price during Q4 of 2020 (October to December), rising by 12.1 per cent over the last year to a new average house price of £222,107.

The figures were revealed in the Principality Building Society’s Wales House Price Index for the time period, which demonstrates the rise and fall in house prices in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales.

Strong house price figures in Newport are reflected across the rest of Wales too, with the average house price for the country reaching a new peak of £209,723, an 8.2 per cent annual rise and topping £200,000 for the first time.

This is the strongest annual house price inflation in Wales in 15 years.

Monmouthshire also achieved strong annual double-digit increases rising 14.2 per cent to £332,558.

Principality’s report also shows that Newport was one of 18 local authority areas which achieved new record high house prices, with a double-digit percentage increase in prices in a third of local authorities.

Merthyr Tydfil recorded the strongest rise on a quarterly basis of 18.2 per cent, taking its average house price to £147,687, but this may be exaggerated by relatively modest sales data. Elsewhere in South Wales, Monmouthshire also achieved strong annual double-digit increases rising 14.2 per cent to £332,558.

While Torfaen (9.1 per cent), Caerphilly (7.3 per cent), and Blaenau Gwent (five per cent) also saw growth.

This image shows the growth across Wales over the last quarter.

Tom Denman, chief financial officer at Principality Building Society, said: “The strength of the housing recovery in the second half of 2020 is striking, and this reflects both the stimulus provided by the Welsh Government in terms of the time-limited Land Transaction Tax holiday, the pent-up demand which built up during the first lockdown, and the race for space to buy bigger properties with larger gardens.

"In Q4, all local authority areas were reporting house prices higher than a year earlier.

"This increased demand has been driven by increased savings in many households during the lockdowns coupled with continued historic low mortgage rates.

"There has probably been some additional demand from buyers across the border with England, with house prices more affordable in Wales in relative terms.

“The recent UK HM Treasury review of independent forecasts for 2021 showed wide divergences in house price expectations for the year.

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"With so many unknowns it is impossible to offer a forecast with any reasonable accuracy. However, once there is more clarity on the containment of the virus and on the full re-opening of the economy, it will become easier.”

Overall transactions were down by 21 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019.

The December RICS housing market survey indicated that buyer interest in Wales has been stronger and persisted for longer than in other parts of the UK.

On a range of metrics – buyer enquiries, instructions to sell, agreed sales, activity per surveyor and sales to stock ratio, Wales was equal to, or outperformed, the most active of areas of England.