Property prices continue to fall, but sales are up |
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Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:05
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LONDON: House prices fell by 3.7 per cent in September in England and Wales -- for the 15th consecutive month. But the rise in the number of sales clearly showed that the market is gaining strength, a survey by real estate research firm Hometrack indicated.
Hometrack said house prices based on agreed sales fell by 0.1 per cent on a month-on-month basis in September the same rate as in August. The national average house price for the month too fell to 160,900 pounds, well below the peak of 167,700 in June 2004.
The happy situation is that the number of transactions increased by 5.5 per cent in September compared with 4.1 per cent in August. Hometrack said lower interest rates, higher incomes and a buoyant labour market contributed to a demand boost. The Bank of England is meeting this week to review the interest rates.
Hometrack economist John Wrigglesworth said in a statement that while another boom in house prices is not in prospect, a house price crash can clearly be ruled out.
Four counties witnessed price rises this month, 21 remained static and 32 saw the prices fall. The largest price fall was in East Sussex (0.7 per cent), Northamptonshire and Merseyside (both 0.6 per cent), and north London and Devon (0.5 per cent).
Wrigglesworth said in his sum-up: "Hometrack believes the present trend of house price falls will end before the end of this year. While house price falls are on track to meet our -5 per cent forecast for the year, we expect a reasonably strong rebound for 2006."
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