House prices up 3.3% in September, says government data

House prices up 3.3% in September, says government data

	Published : Mon, 21 Nov 2005 17:10 By : David Simms Print this Story

LONDON: House prices on an average went up 3.3 per cent in September from 2.8 per cent a month before, according to the office for the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The average price of a house stood at 186,723 pounds compared with 186,208 pounds in August.

The ODPM stated while prices showed upward trend in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, there was a fall in Scotland.

The details are in sync with data released by mortgage lenders -- Nationwide and Halifax -- in the last couple of days, showing that annual house price inflation had picked up in October.

In spite of the continuing positive trend, economists are cautious in describing the increase as a major fillip. They warn that there could be no major pick up in prices in the months to come as there is little likelihood of the central bank revising the interest rates from the current 4.5 per cent.

The ODPM said it had based its figures on 50,000 completions -- double the earlier figure -- and this had caused a delay of a week in the announcement of the compilation.

The ODPM said the house price inflation for the first time buyers fell to 5 per cent in September from 5.6 per cent in August, while the rate for former owner occupiers rose to 2.6 per cent from 1.8 per cent.

The increase, however, is seen across almost all the dwelling types, while it has been the highest for detached houses (1.6 per cent) and bungalows (0.7 per cent). While the rate rose to 2.5 per cent from 1.9 per cent in England, it rose to 6.8 per cent from 6.6 per cent in Wales and to 16.7 per cent from 6.8 per cent in Northern Ireland. In Scotland, it dropped to 10.1 per cent from 11.21 per cent.

In London, it was 1.9 per cent, up from 0.8 per cent in August.

A spokesperson for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Milan Khatri, said housing market is gradually firming up. He said the price rises had slowed from a high of 14.3 per cent in July 2004, but a firm labour market and the August cut in interest rates have reversed the declining trend.