[1]Andy Sommerville, director of Search Acumen [1], comments on the Knight Frank/Markit House Price Sentiment Index (HPSI) [2] – November 2015:
“With London prices out of reach for many aspirational homebuyers, it appears areas in the commuter belt are gaining popularity, particularly the South East, with its rolling countryside and easy access to the capital.
“Wage growth is now outpacing inflation for the first time since 2010, according to the recent ONS figures [3] and the highest number of people are at work since records began [4], so we’re definitely seeing greater purchasing power, although it’s clearly still not enough to buy a property in London’s inflated property market.
“It will be interesting to see if house prices in East Anglia, particularly Essex, begin to increase at the same pace in the near future, given these locations are set to benefit commuters immensely when the Crossrail project completes in 2018.”