Landlords with houses in their portfolios will have seen a dramatic increase in their capital value according to Zoopla.

It says demand for all types of houses, from terraced to detached, has more than doubled in the current housing market – creating a disparity in average price growth when compared to flats.

A new report from the portal shows that family homes are most popular amongst buyers, with demand up 114 per cent compared to levels typically seen at this time of year between 2017 and 2019.

While flats and houses recorded almost equal price growth of 1.4 and 1.9 per cent respectively in June 2020, the pandemic ‘search for space’ has driven prices for houses up 7.3 per cent over the past year.

By contrast, demand for flats has failed to keep pace and, as a result, prices growth is lagging at just 1.4 per cent, the same rate of growth seen last year.

Price growth for houses is highest in Wales at 10.2 per cent and the North West at 8.8 per cent; it’s weakest in London at 5.6 per cent. Meanwhile, price growth for flats is highest in Scotland at 5.2 per cent and East Midlands at 3.7 per cent; again the weakest spot is London where prices have actually fallen 0.5 per cent.

Looking at the wider market Zoopla forecasts that price growth will edge upwards to six per cent in the coming months before easing back towards the end of the year as the impact of the extended stamp duty holiday unwinds and the economic landscape becomes more challenging.

“Overall buyer demand coupled with constrained supply signal that price growth will continue to rise in the coming months, peaking at around six per cent, before falling back to between four and five per cent by the end of 2021” says the portal.