British house prices up for fourth month in a row |
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Published
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Mon, 27 Mar 2006 12:55
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LONDON: House prices in Britain rose for the fourth month in a row and by the highest margin in two years, according to a survey by property consultant Hometrack.
Hometrack said Monday house prices rose by 0.5 per cent in March from the previous month, with the average price of a house now at 162,500 pounds. Prices have not increased at this rate since the summer of 2004, the firm said. The prices have risen by 0.1 per cent over the past 12 months, the first annual rise since January 2005.
The increase in prices is being driven largely by the properties in London, it said. Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack said a resurgent market in London, where prices grew by 1.1 per cent, has put "something of a gloss on the headline results". The average price of a London home reached 267,600 pounds, while the time taken to sell a property fell to four-and-a-half weeks from five weeks earlier.
The South West, East Anglia and the South East have also seen increases, but in a far more limited way.
Donnell feels the lack of new housing coming onto the market for sale in London has helped support the market. Besides, incomes and house prices in the capital are more closely aligned than is the case in other regions.
While there was a 7 per cent rise in buyers in March nationally, there was a 3.7 per cent increase in the number of new properties on sale. In London, the stock of properties for sale grew by just 1 per cent during the month, while demand rose by 10 per cent.
The survey covered 2,200 postcode districts and compiled from monthly reports received from some 3,500 agents.
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