How house prices have changed under various Prime Ministers

With the election looming, and all eyes on the various parties promise on housing, the research team from Knight Frank has updated its assessment of how the UK property market has fared under recent Prime Ministers.

Related topics:  Property
Warren Lewis
22nd April 2015
Gov

The data examined focusses on house price changes and housebuilding figures over the last 60 years.

House prices:

The table below shows the extent to which UK house prices rose during each Prime Minister’s term in office, it also calculates the average annual percentage change.

UK house prices rose the most under Tony Blair’s tenure (211.3%) followed by that of Margaret Thatcher. Prices rose by 187.9% during her time at No.10.
 
On an annualised basis, UK prices performed most strongly under Edward Heath when growth averaged 32.8% per annum. The second highest annual average occurred under Mr Blair’s leadership when UK house prices increased by 21.1%. This was closely followed by James Callaghan’s period in office when, between the second quarter of 1976 and the second quarter of 1979, UK house prices rose on average by 20.8%.
 
More recently, David Cameron has presided over house price growth of 11.76% since 2010, an average of 2.48% per annum.

Grainne Gilmore, UK Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank, said:

“The decline in the annual rate of housebuilding under recent prime ministers underlines the importance of housing as an election issue. It is crucial that the next government introduce detailed, workable and effective measures to boost housing supply across the country.”

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