York records strongest house price rises in 2022

Over the past year, Woking, a commuter town with good links to London, saw the biggest average house price increase of any town or city in England and Wales in cash terms, with a rise of £93,626.

Kim Kinnaird, mortgages director for the Halifax bank, said: “Overall, 2022 was another year of rapid house price growth for most areas in the UK.

“And unlike many years in the past, the list isn’t dominated by towns and cities in the South East.

“Nowhere is that more the case than in the cathedral city of York, which saw the highest property price inflation across England and Wales this year, rising by over a fifth.”

London still had some of the highest property prices in the country, but recorded comparatively modest house price inflation over the past year, Ms Kinnaird added.

“This is partly due to pandemic-driven shifts in housing preferences as buyers sought bigger properties further from urban centres,” she said.

“We can see this clearly in commuter towns such as Woking, Chelmsford and Hove, which – with their more diverse range of properties perhaps offering better value – recorded much bigger increases over the last year.”