Land Registry figures defy house price pessimists

Latest figures from the Land Registry show that house prices in England and Wales remained static during May, compared to the previous month.

The data may not be the most recent available on the UK housing market but it is the most accurate because it is based on completed transactions.

During the month, the average house price stood at £183,266 which is 1.8% above the average cost of a home in May 2007.

In London, prices rose during May, adding 0.8% to the cost of the average property from April and 6.9% to the May 2007 average price.

The figures will surprise housing market pessimists, most of whom have been predicting falls of 10% during 2008.

They also contradict the latest house price surveys from Halifax and Nationwide.

The lenders reported a May decline of 2.4% and 2.5% respectively and according to Halifax, last month saw the cost of an average home fall 3.8% below last year’s figure, to £184,111.

There is, however, plenty of evidence that the number of transactions has fallen dramatically.

According to the Land Registry, from December 2007 to March 2008 completed house sales were taking place at an average of 61,950 per month, down from 100,693 in the same period of 2006/07.

Earlier this week, HM Revenue & Customs reported that there were 504,000 sales above the new stamp duty notification limit of £40,000 in the first five months of 2008; in 2007, 743,000 sales were completed over the same period.

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