House prices hold steady but market remains 'fragile'

Published 27th Jul 2009

The number of sellers achieving their asking price has continued to rise

The average price of a house in England and Wales remained steady for the third month in a row in July but recovery could still be some way off, according to a survey out today.

In its monthly national housing survey, Hometrack, the property intelligence group, said that while there has been no growth in headline prices over the past three months, the number of sellers achieving their asking price has continued to grow. It rose to 91.5% in July from a low of 88.3% in January.

Average house prices have fallen 7.7% over the past 12 months. The cheapest area in which to buy is the north-east, where the average price is £100,600. The most expensive area is Greater London, where properties cost £274,500 on average.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: "A lack of mortgage finance, low buyer confidence and fears of unemployment are being offset by increased demand, a pick-up in sales and a scarcity of housing for sale."

However, he said that even though the improvement in market activity might well be real, it was "off a very low base. The housing market remains in a fragile state." It could easily be undermined, he added, by an increase in the supply of homes for sale.

Hometrack found that agents and surveyors reported that house prices increased across 10% of postcodes in July, mainly in southern England. In the north of the country, agents reported "difficult" market conditions characterised by more stock but weak demand.

The group also found that it took longer to sell a house in the north – an average of more than 10 weeks, compared with 5.8 in London.

Source: ' Guardian '

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