Record divide opens on house prices

House prices in the South of England have reached more than double those in the North, creating a record divide, a report from "Rightmove" group found Monday. Southerners are typically putting their homes on the market for 336,743 pounds, compared with 164,347 pounds in the Northern regions, sparking fears that a "two-tier twist" could be hampering more widespread growth in the market. The 170,000 pounds chasm is the largest in monetary terms since Rightmove's records began in 2002. The monthly index revealed an overall 2.8 percent increase in asking prices, a jump of 6,533 pounds from mid September to reach 239,672 pounds in mid October. But this rise was driven by the South, including London, the South East, the South West and East Anglia, which experienced a 4.7 percent upsurge overall. Meanwhile, the North fell back by 0.7 percent in the space of a month, to levels first achieved more than six years ago in May 2005. Properties in some of the South regions came onto the market at an all-time high. In London, the typical price was 450,210 pounds, 2.6 percent higher than a previous record set in June. Kensington and Chelsea was the best-performing area of the capital, with prices up 6.6 percent in a month to typically reach 1,917,895 pounds. In the South East people were asking 317,055 pounds for their properties - up 0.2 percent on the previous high achieved in May 2008. Compared with the start of the credit crunch four years ago, prices of properties coming to market have risen by 5.4 percent in the South but tumbled by 9.6 percent in the North, Rightmove director Miles Shipside said "Wider access to mortgages and rising asking prices are early signs of increasing demand, giving homeowners some grounds for hope of a market recovery. "However, the reality is that there is further evidence of a two-tier twist which is dogging the return to more widespread liquidity in the housing market.