Property prices in the South West of England have risen by 11.6 per cent in the last year - outpacing growth seen anywhere else in the UK.
The average house price across the region is now £259,201, according to the Rightmove price index - over eight times the average UK salary.
The report analyses how much houses are being sold for around the country. Prices in the South West grew by 2.4 per cent in the last month alone, the report said. In the rest of the country, most regions saw a dip in price over the past month, but all saw a rise over the past year - just not by as much as us here.
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Tim Bannister, Rightmove's director of property data, said: "All of the signs suggest that prices are likely to continue to rise until more choice is available. Three regions are in most urgent need of new supply - the East Midlands, South West and South East of England - as they are now at unsustainable rates of annual price growth above 10 per cent."
Bannister also said first-time buyer homes are now at their highest price levels ever recorded, with a national average asking price of £214,176.
The rate of property growth far outstrips that of wage growth. Wages have grown by around four per cent in the past year, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics. In real terms - once inflation is taken into account - regular wage growth is at 0 per cent.
Despite some predictions, property prices grew at their fastest rate in years throughout the coronavirus pandemic. This was driven partly by white collar workers saving money on their commutes by being able to work from home more often, partly by a general wish to move out of city centres and into the countryside for the same reason, and partly by the government's stamp duty relief incentivising people buying more expensive properties to do so quickly, before the relief expired.
Roger Wilkinson, the managing director at Wilkinson Grant & Co estate agents in Exeter, said: “Despite a slow-down in activity over the festive period, Covid uncertainty, an interest rate rise and creeping cost of living, 2022 has picked-up where 2021 left off – with continued high levels of buyer demand and not enough homes available to choose from.
"Having experienced house price growth in some Devon hotspots of as much as 20 per cent in the last 18 months, the signals are that prices will continue to rise this coming year, but a new mood of buyer realism will slow such rampant house price growth. The supply of newly built homes here in Exeter and east Devon, in particular, continues to stimulate healthy levels of market activity and we expect house prices in this area to rise by around five per cent in 2022."
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