House price rises grinding to a halt

Category: Mortgages
Date: 7/28/2010

The rising cost of property in England and Wales has slowed to almost a stand-still, although price variations continue to fluctuate from region to region.

Across England and Wales, house prices crept up by just 0.1% in June, with the average price of a property climbing to £166,072, figures from the Land Registry show.

Over the last 12 months, prices have increased by an average of 8.4% and are now at the same level seen in the summer of 2006.

Owners of semi-detached homes have seen their properties increase by 9.6% in the 12 months since June last year.

The average price of a semi-detached abode ended June at £157,397, up from the £143,669 average 12 months previously.

Detached, flats and terraced homes increased in value by 9%, 8% and 7.7% respectively in the year to June.

All ten regions in England and Wales saw price increases from June 2009 to June 2010, with London unsurprisingly leading the way.

Prices rose by an average of 12.2% in the capital, with the borough of Kensington and Chelsea seeing values increase by more than a fifth (20.3%).

By contrast, the North East of England was the region to record the smallest annual growth, with prices up by just 0.7%, a figure hit by a price movement of -1.3% in June.

Despite this, it does appear that transaction levels are improving. Sales volumes average 44,114 per month from January to April this year, well up on the 32,041 during the same period in 2009.

The figures were tentatively welcomed by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), although its chief executive, Peter Bolton King, warned that there are still major challenges in the mortgage market.

"The latest Land Registry statistics show that the housing market is slowly recovering. This is to be welcomed, but many people are still excluded from owning a home because lending remains unfairly restricted.

"There are enormous regional differences in house prices and in the state of the housing market recovery generally.

"Buyers, especially first time buyers, are confused and should take advice from professional NAEA members on their local market."

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