Average house price up 0.8 percent in England and Wales in June

In its latest survey of house prices, internet site Rightmove has found that house prices were up 0.8 percent in the past month after thousands of sellers rushed to put their homes on the market before the announced 1 June deadline, ultimately postponed, for requiring Home Information Packs to be in place before a house could be marketed. According to the website, approximately 200,000 new properties were placed on the market, the second month in a row that many houses were put up for sale. The average price of a home in England and Wales rose to a record high £239,317.

The survey shows, however, that average prices in London rose less than the national average and that prices in three regions - the North West, Yorkshire & Humberside, and East Anglia - declined during the month. Prices in London were up by 0.7 percent to an average of £387,898, for a gain of 23.1 percent from the same time last year, when the average price of a house there was £315,224. The region with the biggest rise in house prices was the West Midlands, where prices rose 5.8 percent in the month to £205,662. The biggest decline in house prices came in Yorkshire & Humberside, where prices dropped by 1.3 percent to an average of £173,909. Still, prices are up 8.6 percent there from the same time last year.

Within London, the biggest rise in prices came in Camden, where prices were up 7.4 percent to an average of £667,630. Other big jumps came in Brent, with prices up 7 percent in the month; in the City of Westminster, where prices climbed by 5.7 percent, and in Richmond-upon-Thames, where prices were up by 5.7 percent. Prices in some areas of London dropped, however. The biggest decline came in Southwark, where prices dropped by 2.8 percent over the previous month. Prices dropped by 2.4 percent in Hounslow, by 1.7 percent in Haringey, and by 1.3 percent in Lambeth. Over half of London’s boroughs registered a decline in prices in June.

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