My castle costs more than yours

By The Data Team

RESIDENTIAL property prices in England and Wales rose by 4.6% in the year to May; the average home now costs £179,696 ($278,530). Prices have been increasing in real terms for nearly three years, though they remain lower than their 2007 peak. Why the inexorable rise? In 2004 the Barker Review, an official report on the supply of housing in Britain, recommended that 240,000 new properties a year be built, to tame price rises. As the chart shows, building has fallen far short of this; demand is not being met.