HOUSE prices in south Essex have soared by more than nine per cent over the last year, according to new Government figures.

The Land Registry’s January report, released last week, shows a 9.1 per cent rise in the price of properties in Southend between December 2013 and December 2014, with the rest of Essex seeing a 9.6 per cent rise in the same period.

This represents an average price of £169,683 in Southend at the close of the year and £211,906 in the rest of Essex – supporting predictions made by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors earlier last year that house prices would rise by three per cent in 2015 across the East of England.

Alan Kirkman, of Southend’s Tudor Estates, said this actually represented a slight slow-down in the pace of the market, but added further developments in January had demonstrated sellers’ and buyers’ confidence was building.

He said: “The figures we were looking at towards the end of last year showed an 11 per cent increase up until October, then it dropped off a couple of percentage points between November and December, which isn’t unusual in the run-up to the Christmas season.

“But what we’ve seen in the first month of this year is quite strong activity, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the next set of figures show it increasing again, as this year people seem to have made the decision, both to sell and to buy, fairly early.”

Mr Kirkman added he believed a general upturn in the economy, the Government’s Help to Buy scheme and many people receiving pay rises had contributed to the rally in the market.

However, he did concede that even under such favourable conditions there would always be some firsttime buyers left feeling they had been priced even further out of the market.

KellyMeecham, 27, and husband Robert, 29, are currently renting off Wickford High Street, but say since the birth of daughter Rose six months ago they are struggling to find larger affordable rental accommodation – never mind getting a foot on the property ladder.

Mrs Meecham said: “We’ve put a little away, but it really is a little and, when things come up like the car breaking down, we’ve to dip into it for that.

“Everything’s going up so much, it’s ridiculous. Even when we were looking at rental prices we were looking at £800 a month for a one-bedroom flat.

“Even with Help to Buy at five per cent, we feel priced out because of all the legal fees and everything else on top of it, and it just seems as though everything’s on the rise but wages don’t seem to be budging at all.”