House prices fell in October, says Land Registry

Published 26th Nov 2010

House prices fell by 0.8% month-on-month in October, the second successive monthly decline and the largest monthly fall since February last year, according to the Land Registry

House prices in England and Wales fell again in October, but have increased by 3.4% over the past year, taking the average price to £165,505, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry, based on official records of property transactions.

Prices fell by 0.8% month-on-month in October, the second successive monthly decline and the largest monthly fall since February last year. It is also larger than the 0.2% drop seen in September.

Over the past 12 months all regions in England and Wales except the north-east and the north-west experienced increases in their average property values, with London experiencing the highest annual price rise of 7.6%, taking the average value to £341,105. Prices in the north-east dipped by 0.9% over the year and by 0.8% in the north-west, taking the average property price in those regions to £109,238 and £117,868 respectively.

All regions except London and the east experienced a fall in average house values in October, with Yorkshire and the Humber dropping by 1.8%, the east Midlands by 1.3% and the south-east by 1.2%. Prices in London rose by 0.3% and by 1% in the east.

The most up-to-date figures available from the Land Registry also show that during August the number of completed house sales in England and Wales fell month-on-month by 8.7% to 58,783, down from 64,411 in July – although this was 1% greater than in August last year.

The number of £1m properties sold in England and Wales increased by 44%, from 506 to 731, between August last year and this year.

Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said: "Evidence is coming thick and fast at the moment that housing activity remains in the doldrums and prices are slipping. This supports our belief that house prices will trend down to lose around 10% from their peak 2010 levels by the end of 2011.

"In our view, the housing market has got little going for it at the moment, apart from low mortgage rates – and that is if you can get a mortgage."

Source: ' Guardian '

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