Statistics about the rate of national house-price inflation in Britain hide wide disparities at regional levels. A new survey shows pizza restaurant openings can be a better guide to local property markets.
According to the Halifax house price index, average property values rose 11.1 per cent nationally in the 12 months to March this year but in Scotland and Northern Ireland they rose two and three times faster respectively. In Northern Ireland values rose 37 per cent, in Scotland 22.4 per cent.
Property markets in northern England and the Midlands are flat, now that the boom in these regions has headed north.
Meanwhile, southern England's property values are rising rapidly, as London's wealthy bankers and stockbrokers are spending their bonuses on new homes, while wealthy foreigners are using the capital's bricks and mortar as a safe haven for their cash.
Greater London property values increased 14.9 per cent in the 12 months to March, the biggest increase in prices in England over that period, Halifax reports. In prime central London, the market is red hot. Prices are growing at their fastest rate for 30 years, property consultancy Knight Frank's research shows.
'Annual price growth has now reached an astonishing 32 per cent after 27 consecutive months of price rises,' Knight Frank's head of residential research, Liam Bailey, said.
Yet, even a magnified regional picture can fail to show market movements in specific locations. Sniffing out pizza is helpful, however.