Little Change in House Prices Recorded by Land Registry

The UK House Price Index for August from the Land Registry and Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows little change in house prices over the most recent month for which data is available.

In August, house prices rose by an average of 8.4% on an annual basis, taking the typical property value in the UK to £218,964. Month-on-month, house prices rose by 1.3%.

House prices across the country

In England, prices rose by 9.2% over the last 12 months to an average of £235,573. On a monthly basis, prices were up by 1.4% on July.

Wales experienced an annual price increase of 2.7%, taking the average property value to £144,514. However, prices dropped by an average of 0.6% over the month.

Prices in London rose by 12.1% over the past year, putting the average property value in the capital at £488,908. Over the month, prices increased by 1.3%.

Regionally, the House Price Index found that the East of England experienced the greatest increase in house prices over the last 12 months, at 13.35%. Month-on-month, the South West recorded the highest growth, of 2.3%.

The lowest annual price growth was seen in the North East, at 3%, while the region was the only area to record a monthly drop in prices, of 0.2%.

UK property sales

Property sales across the UK rose by 8.4% in the year to August, up slightly from 8.0% in July. Although demand and supply were broadly unchanged on the previous month, the indicators remained

somewhat weaker than in 2015 and early 2016, according to the report.

Data for June 2016 – for which the most recent Land Registry figures are available – shows that the number of completed home sales in England dropped by 32.2% to 57,637, compared with 85,020 in the previous year.

The amount of property sales in Wales fell by 27.1% to 3,046, compared to 4,181 in June 2015.

In London, the number of completed home sales also dropped, by a huge 46.7%, to 5,966, from 11,202 in the same month last year.

There were a total of 526 repossession sales in England during June, with just 55 in Wales. The lowest number of repossession sales in England and Wales was in the East of England.

Little change in house prices 

Katherine Binns, of the HomeOwners Alliance, responds to the figures: “The latest house price data released by Land Registry shows little change in house price growth in August. Since the referendum result, both house sales and house price growth have eased. However, low mortgage rates and a shortage of homes available for sale should sustain house prices.

“As the economy and employment have held up following the Brexit vote, it will be interesting to see whether confidence returns and begins to unfold in autumn housing market activity, as buyers take advantage of attractive mortgage rates.”

Seasonally acceptable picture of the market

The CEO of eMoov, Russell Quirk, also comments on the findings: “Today’s figures from the Land Registry portray a pretty seasonally acceptable picture of the UK market during late summer, but with prices up 8.4% annually and still up 1.3% over the slower holiday months, homeowners have a lot to be reassured by.

“Looking annually, it’s a pretty familiar picture with London, the South East and East of England all seeing double-digit growth in house prices. Perhaps a little more unusual when looking at monthly growth is London, seemingly rocked by the leave vote, with an increase of just 1.3%.”

He continues: “Although the East of England and South East both enjoyed strong monthly growth, there are a few unusual front-runners placing well in the regional house price race. Both the East and West Midlands enjoyed strong monthly growth, at 1.6% each, but perhaps the real standout story is the South West, as the only area seeing monthly growth tip over 2%.

“Who knows, this uncharacteristic rise to the top could be a result of South West holiday goers making some snap decisions whilst down in the likes of Devon and Cornwall over the summer.

“Regardless, we’ve just seen one of our strongest months performance wise, with sales and listings both well up on previous months. So any current myths of the UK market on its knees on either side of the fence at present are myths indeed.”

Uncertainty following Brexit

Additionally, the Co-Founder and Director of online mortgage lender LendInvest, Ian Thomas, reacts to the House Price Index: “August was a tricky month for the housing market, with the uncertainty following the Brexit vote adding to the traditional summer slowdown. It has been a feature of this year that the housing market has had to deal with a succession of external factors denting demand. The conclusion of the Help to Buy scheme at the end of 2016 will be another one, which may particularly affect the sale of new build properties.”