Land Registry figures for councils in the pathfinder areas, compiled by Housing Today, highlight the rise from the third quarter of 2003 to the first quarter of 2004.
This confirms last year's trend, when prices jumped 20% in 12 months (HT 30 January, page 7). The rises are for local authority areas because detailed figures for the pathfinder areas are not available.
It will mean spiralling costs for the pathfinders, whose plans involve buying up thousands of derelict homes for demolition. Even if local authorities use their compulsory purchasing powers, pathfinders will have to pay the full market value of the homes, which is continually rising.
The Government Office for the North-west, which has four of the nine low-demand pathfinders under its remit, has commissioned research from the centre for Urban and Regional Studies on the causes and effects of the price leaps.
A GO spokesman said: "This will be central to the next regional housing strategy."
Pauline Davis, chief executive of New Heartlands, the Merseyside pathfinder, said the pathfinders could do little to prevent speculation, which is thought to have contributed to the rising prices, together with right-to-buy sales.
Davis said: "There is not a lot we can do about people that come up on the train and buy up houses. The question is, how sustainable are the increases? We are having to revise our figures; we may not be able to do as much as we thought we could."
Liverpool has reported a 14% rise in house prices over the past six months, with the cost of the average terraced house rising from £51,205 to £59,400 in the local authority area. New Heartlands is committed to demolishing 2500 homes over the next two years.
Source
Housing Today
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