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With around nine months remaining until next year’s general election, many people will be starting to think about which party to vote for. From education and tax to the economy and the NHS, there are a wide range of things that people need to consider when electing a new party. But which government is best for house prices? Naturally, different people, depending on whether they are buying or selling, will possess different views on price rises, with prospective vendors likely to be comforted by a likely rise in prices whereas future buyers will want to be assured that rises in values will be lower.
Looking back in history at the performance of house prices, based on the Nationwide House Price Index, under each Prime Minister and by political party since 1970, shows that a Conservative government is almost twice as beneficial to house prices with an average rise of 19% per annum over their 26 year tenure. This compares to a Labour performance of 10% per annum, fuelled primarily by Tony Blair who achieved growth of almost 21% each year in his ten year term.
Unsurprisingly, under Margaret Thatcher, who declared her belief in a ‘property-owning democracy’ and introduced Right to Buy in 1980, property price growth was the greatest. During her 11 years as Prime Minister, property prices grew by 22% per year. When elected in 1979 the average house price in the UK was £17,793 this flourished up to £61,495 by 1990. |
