Figures released today from the Land Registry show that annual house prices have increased by 5.4% to June. This means that the average property value in England & Wales now stands at £181,619, which is higher than the previous peak in November 2007.
Month on month the growth is 1.1% from May 2015.
London yet again has the most significant annual price rises with growth at 9.2%, whilst the North East saw the greatest monthly rise at 3%. Yorkshire & The Humber saw the largest monthly decrease and lowest annual growth.
Also of note were the most up to date figures from the Land Registry on Aprils sales figures, showing that the number of completed house sales in England & Wales fell by 19% compared to April 2014, whilst the number of properties sold for over £1m decreased by 22% over the same time period. This was to be expected given the run up to the General Election at that time and it will be interesting to see the next set of data.
The good news was that Repossession decreased by some 48% year on year.
Andrew Montlake, Director at Coreco Mortgage Brokers comments “These latest figures show that house prices are still holding firm and are likely to do so for the rest of the year as demand for property stays strong whilst supply of good quality stock remains an issue.
“This imbalance between demand and supply is reaching critical levels in many parts of the country, especially London and we are yet to see a joined up Government policy to help build the homes people are crying out for.
“With interest rates looking like they will rise in the next 12 months, we are likely to see more demand for mortgages as people look to take advantage of some of the low rates on offer before they are gone and house prices increase further”.