House prices jumped by 4.4% in 2024 across Yorkshire
New figures show prices here are growing faster than down south.
Average house prices across Yorkshire increased by 4.4% in the year to December - an increase bigger than many places down South.
Nationwide Building Society says the typical property here sold for just over £207,373 last month.
But stamp duty changes this spring could generate volatility, triggering a jump in house sales in early 2025, followed by a weaker period, Nationwide predicts.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "UK house prices ended 2024 on a strong footing, up 4.7% compared with December 2023, though prices were still just below the all-time high recorded in summer 2022."
The all-time high, recorded in August 2022, was £273,751.
Mr Gardner continued: "Mortgage market activity and house prices proved surprisingly resilient in 2024 given the ongoing affordability challenges facing potential buyers.
"At the start of the year, house prices remained high relative to average earnings, which meant that the deposit hurdle remained high for prospective first-time buyers. This is a challenge that had been made worse by record rates of rental growth in recent years, which has hampered the ability of many in the private rented sector to save.
"Moreover, for many of those with sufficient savings for a deposit, meeting monthly payments was a stretch because borrowing costs remained well above those prevailing in the aftermath of the pandemic.
"For example, a typical mortgage rate for someone with a 25% deposit hovered around 4.5% for much of the year, three times the 1.5% prevailing in late 2021, before the Bank of England started to raise the bank rate.
"As a result, it was encouraging that activity levels in the housing market increased over the course of 2024 with the number of mortgages approved for house purchase each month rising above pre-pandemic levels towards the end of the year."
Looking ahead, Mr Gardner said stamp duty changes from April "are likely to generate volatility, as buyers bring forward their purchases to avoid the additional tax".
A temporary "nil rate" threshold for first-time buyers will shrink back to £300,000, from £425,000 currently. Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland.
Mr Gardner predicted the changes will lead to a jump in transactions in the first three months of 2025, particularly in March, and a period of weakness in the following three to six months.
He added: "This will make it more difficult to discern the underlying strength of the market.
"But, providing the economy continues to recover steadily, as we expect, the underlying pace of housing market activity is likely to continue to strengthen gradually as affordability constraints ease through a combination of modestly lower interest rates and earnings outpacing house price growth.
"The latter is likely to return to the 2-4% range in 2025 once stamp duty-related volatility subsides."
Mr Gardner said that within England, there was a "clear north-south divide" in house price performance in 2024 as the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber and the Midlands combined continued to outperform southern England, with prices up by 4.9% year-on-year.
Southern England (including the South West, Outer South East, Outer Metropolitan, London and East Anglia regions) recorded a 2.2% year-on-year house price rise.