The house price gap between London and the rest of the country has now risen to an exceptional amount, according to a recent report. London average house price now sits at almost £580,000. Average house price for England and Wales now sits at around £278,000. Take the difference and that equals about £300,000. This represents a ten-fold increase in the price gap which has transpired over a twenty year period.

The report also indicated the everyday home in London costs about 12 times the average worker’s earnings. Back in 1996, the average London home cost was under four times the average earnings.

Over the last twenty years, Hackney has experienced the largest growth in house prices. In 1996, the average house price sat at £75,569. Compared with last year which was £606,269, or an increase of more than 700%.

Westminster homes have undergone the largest increase in overall value during the last two decades. In 1996, the average home there sold for £190,000. Now, twenty years later, the average house sits on the market for more than £1,400,000. This is an increase of almost 650%.

This increase in average house price has not affected the number of UK house owners attempting to obtain a remortgage. The number remortgaging last year was the strongest in several years, and that trend is expected to continue at least until interest rates remain at their present level.

Remortgage is the perfect way, according to many experts, to gain access to home equity for use as payment of old debt, starting a home renovation, or sending oneself on that elusive holiday.