Land Registry confirms August house price growth

The Land Registry’s latest figures compiled from residential property sales, supports earlier claims by the Nationwide Building Society that house prices continued to rise in August, despite the credit squeeze.

The data shows average house prices in England and Wales increasing by 0.2%, bringing the cost of the average English or Welsh property to £182,914.

The rise compares with a gain of 0.1% during July, which was the lowest increase for over a year.

The annual rate of house price inflation in August stood at 9.4%, compared with 8.8% in July.

However, the Land Registry has pointed out that, apart from London, the underlying trend has been for price increases to slow down.

The trend for divergence between regions of England and Wales appears to be continuing and the growth rate between London and the rest of the country is particularly marked.

London house prices have been increasing at over seven per cent per annum more than in regions outside the capital.

In Eastern England, the South West, Wales, the North West and the East Midlands house prices actually fell during August, whereas in London prices rose by 1.5%.

The average price of a house in London has increased 16.7% in the past 12 months, to £349,838.

Despite continued strong growth in prices, the volume of house sales across England and Wales has decreased by 15% in the 12 months to June.

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