ONS: House prices defy suffering economy during pandemic

Despite most other sectors suffering in 2020, house prices bucked the trend by increasing while the economy shrank, according to a new Office for National Statistics report assessing the damage done by Covid-19. The average UK house price reached a record high of £252,000 in December 2020 — an increase of 8.5% over the year, the ONS said. The surge in house buying at the end of 2020 may reflect the pent-up demand from people who had been unable to buy during the lockdown — and changes to the types of property people wanted such as houses with gardens, the agency added. The ONS said the difference between 2008 and 2020 could be because the former crisis was largely related to “structural issues with financing mortgages… Whereas the fall in GDP in 2020 was possibly driven more by reduced opportunities to spend, caused by lockdown restrictions, rather than primarily a lack of funds.”

The Daily Telegraph (15/03/2021)   Daily Star(15/03/2021)    City AM (15/03/2021)   Daily Mail(15/03/2021)