The first quarter of 2018 delivered promising news for Yorkshire as the region maintained growth and bucked national trends in home ownership. The latest Nationwide index suggested that the UK house price growth remained steady at 2.1%.

On a regional level, the North of England recorded stronger price growth than in the south. Yorkshire especially exceeded the national trend with prices up by 4.8%. This puts house prices in Yorkshire back to their levels in 2007 prior to the recession and is up on the 1.8% growth on the previous year.

In terms of home ownership rates, this has declined consistently over the past decade with many seeing rentals as the ideal option. Despite this, Yorkshire records a strong level of home ownership with 63% of people owning their own home. This in comparison to London which dropped to 47% this March.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist said: “On the surface, the relatively subdued pace of house price growth appears at odds with recent healthy rates of employment growth, a modest pick-up in wage growth and historically low borrowing costs. However, consumer confidence has remained subdued, due to the ongoing squeeze on household finances as wage growth continues to lag behind increases in the cost of living.

“Looking ahead, much will depend on how broader economic conditions evolve, especially in the labour market, but also with respect to interest rates. Subdued economic activity and the ongoing squeeze on household budgets is likely to continue to exert a modest drag on housing market activity and house price growth this year.

“But historically low unemployment and mortgage interest rates together with the lack of properties on the market is likely to provide some support for house prices. Overall, we expect house prices to be broadly flat, with a marginal gain of around one per cent over the course of 2018.”

Read more on the Yorkshire Post.