Govt index shows house prices static
Tuesday, 1 April 2008 12:00 AM
February saw no change to the average house price in England and Wales, according to the latest Land Registry figures released today.
The government body's house price index, which releases figures one month in arrears, found annual house price growth has now fallen to 5.3 per cent - down from 6.4 per cent in January.
According to the research, the average price for a property in England and Wales now stands at £185,616.
The annual increase in house prices was led by flats andmaisonettes, which saw prices increase by six per cent.
This type of property was followed by terraced homes, which increased in value by 5.1 per cent, while semi-detached and detached properties were up by five and 4.4 per cent respectively.
However, the picture is considerably more varied on a regional scale.
Prices in London are still accelerating at 10.6 per cent annually - the fastest regional growth of any area of England and Wales.
However, the capital did see a 0.4 per cent drop during February, making it among the most volatile regions, with the average property in the capital now costing £353,760.
The south-east, with annual growth of six per cent, and the East (5.8 per cent) also continue to perform ahead of the national average.
However, Wales saw prices slump 1.1 per cent during February, with annual growth now down to just 2.7 per cent.
Only the north-east has a lower annual growth of 1.9 per cent, where the average property costs over £50,000 less than the national average at £130,545.
More worryingly for the property market, sales volumes continued to decline.
In the months September to December 2007, transaction volumes averaged 90,880 per month.
This represents a sharp decrease on the same period last year, when sales volumes averaged 117,301 - a fall of 40 per cent.
Only properties valued over £2 million saw an increase over the period - with sales going up by just one per cent.
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