House Prices holding up

According to the latest figures from the Land Registry, average house prices remained flat in May, with the price of the average house remaining at £183,266.

Surprisingly, and contrary to what many have been led to believe, prices in London are still increasing, showing a monthly increase of 0.8%. The biggest falls were recorded in the North East, which saw prices fall by 2.4%.

However, there can be no doubt that the volumes of homes being sold has fallen drastically, and this has been reflected in the figures for March. The Land Registry states that there were 53,080 completions, down 50% from the 106,047 recorded for March last year. Commenting on the news, Tim Lee, Managing Director of The Mortgage Warehouse said,

"The Land Registry figures represent a much truer reflection of the current housing market as they are based on all transfers of registered property. House price indices, such as those of the Halifax and Nationwide are based only on their own mortgage approval data and can be significantly skewed by the rates they are offering and therefore the type of borrower they are attracting. This has led to an impression that house prices are falling more quickly and more steeply than they are, and we must guard against talking ourselves into a house price crash which could otherwise be avoided."

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