00:00Now you might think that with the cost of living still stretching household budgets,
00:05house prices in the West Midlands would be standing still or even falling.
00:09But the latest UK house price index shows they've actually gone up.
00:14The average home here cost £251,000 in August.
00:18That's about £3,000 more than a year earlier.
00:21So what does that mean if you're trying to buy?
00:23Say you're putting down a 10% deposit on an average home, you'd need around £25,100 in savings.
00:32A year earlier, the deposit would have been about £300 less.
00:36Your mortgage would be about £2,700 bigger as well.
00:40Where you're looking does make a difference.
00:43House prices rose faster in Coventry than in Birmingham, even though Coventry is still cheaper on average.
00:49And in Birmingham itself, the average price of a semi-detached house went up.
00:54Flat prices went the other way.
00:56For people trying to save while they rent, there's another cost that's gone up.
01:00The Office for National Statistics says the average private rent in the West Midlands was £983 a month in September.
01:09That's £41 more than a year earlier.
01:12Could putting down a smaller deposit make it easier?
01:16At the start of November, Moneyfax found there were UK mortgage deals for buyers, putting down 5%.
01:22The average fixed rates on those deals was already above 6% and they went up again.
