House price growth steadies in July: OPDM |
|
|
|
Published
:
Mon, 12 Sep 2005 20:05
|
LONDON - The latest report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister shows that house price inflation rose by an annual rate of 4 percent in July as against the 5 percent recorded in June.
Except Northern Ireland, all UK countries saw a slowdown in house price growth in July. The ODPM said that the average cost of a home in Britain was £186,207 in July. This figure is marginally higher than the £184,162 registered in June.
House price growth stood at 3.1 percent in July as against the 4.1 percent in the previous month. House prices in Northern Ireland increased by 15.9 percent from 14.2 percent in June. The price for Scottish homes decreased to 12 percent in July from 14 percent in June. Over in Wales, house prices rose by 7.6 percent in July, but were down from the 10.8 percent recorded in June.
Year-on-year price inflation decreased all over England except in West Midlands region. The biggest price rise was seen in the northern regions with a 7.3 percent increase, while London recorded the lowest increase with 0.9 percent. However, first time buyers had to shell out 1.9 percent more for a home in July as compared with June's prices. This figure rose by 6 percent as compared to July last year. The average price for a first time buyer was £153,168, much lower than the £201,163 being paid by someone moving home.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at consultancy Global Insight was of the opinion that house price inflation was reaching a plateau, "It should be noted though that the ODPM data tend to provide lagging evidence on house prices, as it calculates its index at the time when mortgages are completed. On average, these reflect offers that were made two months earlier," he said.
But the ODPM figures varied widely form figures released by Halifax, which put the annual house price inflation at 2.3 percent, while Nationwide building society had put it at 2.6 percent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
