Survey: House price growth slows in May

Property website Hometrack says that house prices will rise by 4 percent in 2007 as their most recent survey showed UK house prices up by 0.6 percent in May after growing by 0.7 percent in April. The average price of a house was at £175,600 in May, 6.7 percent higher than at the same time last year. Additionally, Hometrack reports that the percentage of postcodes where house prices increased was down from 43.7 percent in April to only 33.9 percent in May.

In the South East, where prices have been growing steadily recently, price growth slowed to only 0.6 percent in May from 0.9 percent in April. Prices were up by 0.4 percent in the Midlands. London led price growth in May, with prices up by 1.3 percent. Demand is also lower, with estate agents reporting no increases in new buyers. Sales were slower, with just 4.3 percent growth overall in May after they were up by 9.6 percent in April.

Supply, on the other hand, is growing. There was a 6 percent increase in the number of houses coming on the market in the UK in May, up from supply growth of 5.7 percent in April and growth of 4.3 percent in May. In London, new supply has grown by 14.5 percent over April and May combined, while during the same two months last year supply was up by only 1.3 percent there.

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