House prices increasingly out of reach for those who can’t call ‘bank of mum and dad’

The government has contributed in the worst possible way by stoking demand but not addressing supply, baking inequality into the system

House prices have soared in part because of a lack of supply (PA)

The runaway train of Britain’s housing market might have slowed down a little in January, but it’s still zipping along like one of the high-speed locomotives we’re supposed to be getting for HS2 (probably sometime in the next century given the way these projects tend to go in this country).

Halifax said prices had inched ahead by just 0.3 per cent in the first month of 2022, the smallest such increase since last June. But the average price paid still hit a new record of £276,759, and that’s still up by 9.7 per cent on the year.

The annual rate of growth has barely changed, and is running at more than three times the rate at which wages are rising.