UK House prices by Prime Minister - from Eden to Cameron

News Headlines by Kate Everett-Allen

• UK house prices rose the most under Tony Blair’s tenure (211.3%) followed by that of Margaret Thatcher, prices rose by 187.9% during her time at No.10
• The largest rise in UK home ownership was under Margaret Thatcher (10.4%)
• UK home ownership dropped 3.6% under Gordon Brown

With the debate surrounding Margaret Thatcher’s legacy well underway I thought it would be timely to assess how UK property prices have performed under recent Prime Ministers.

The table below shows the extent to which UK house prices rose during each premiership, it also calculates the average annual percentage change.

Looking firstly at the total increase, UK house prices rose the most under Tony Blair’s tenure (211.3%) followed by that of Margaret Thatcher, prices rose by 187.9% during her time at No.10.

On an annualised basis, UK prices performed most strongly under Edward Heath when growth averaged 32.8% per annum. The second highest annual average occured under Mr Blair’s leadership when UK house prices increased by 21.1%. This was closely followed by James Callaghan’s period in office when, between the second quarter of 1976 and the second quarter of 1979, UK house prices rose on average by 20.8% . Inflation rates during the 1970s (see Table 2) undoubtedly contributed to the strong growth recorded during both Mr Heath and Mr Callaghan’s premierships.

Although John Major held office during the downturn of the early 1990s the UK still
managed to record positive growth of 6.3% growth per annum.

Post 2008 the global financial crisis and its repercussions – rising unemployment, weak consumer confidence and tighter lending constraints – took the wind out of the UK housing market’s sails. As a result Gordon Brown and David Cameron are the only Prime Ministers since 1955 to have presided over a period of negative growth for UK house prices. Prices slipped 7.2% during Mr Brown’s four year premiership and prices are now 3.4% lower than when Mr Cameron took office in May 2010.

Courtesy: Knight Frank