By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent
Back in April 2016 we featured stats on house prices rising 47,000 per cent over 90 years of Her Majesty the Queen’s life.
Fast forward another 90 years and many would say another 471-fold increase in house prices is unthinkable – or is it?
His Royal Highness Prince Charles is 67 years old. He will be 90 in 23 years (November 2038). Assuming house prices rise over the next 23 years at the same rate as in the last 23 years (6.7 per cent per year), UK average house prices will reach £1,284,416 in 2038, 3.5 times more than the present £291,504.
On the same basis, when His Royal Highness Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, reaches 90 years old – in 2072, average house prices will be £11.3 million. And when His Royal Highness Prince George reaches 90 in 2103, a typical UK house will be a £86.8 million.
London has seen a faster house price increase. Over the next 23 years, if house prices were to rise at the same rate we’ve seen over the past 23 years (8.5 per cent rise per year), then when Prince Charles reaches 90 in 2038, the average London house price will be £3.5 million.
On the same basis, when Prince William reaches 90 years old, London house prices will be £52.4 million. When Prince George reaches 90 in 2103, London house prices will average £667 million.
The projections produced by Jackson-Stops & Staff seem unbelievable. However, if you were told in 1926 that a house valued at £619 would be worth nearly £300,000 in 2016 – 90 years on, they would most certainly be laughed at.
It’s logical to think prices increase over time – whether that be house or food prices. What’s unbelievable is the rate of that rise. From 1926 to 2016, a kilogram of cheese has increased from 13p to £7.28 – an increase of 5,500 per cent. If the price increased at the same rate as house prices have, the cheese would cost £61,26.