Average house price down 4.6%

The Land Registry has published its house price index for August, showing a 4.6% annual fall in the average cost of a home, to £174,439.

The monthly decline stood at 1.9%, which compares with a monthly fall of 0.6% in July.

The average house price in England and Wales has now returned to the level recorded in spring 2007, but with significant regional variations.

In August, the East of England saw an annual decline of 6.7%; the South West a year-on-year fall of 6.5% and the average house price in the East Midlands was down 5.9%.

In the North West and Wales, August figures show an annual fall of 2.5% and 2.6% respectively.

For London the annual decrease stood at 3.2% in August, taking the average house price in the capital to £336,620.

However, the average cost of a home in Hartlepool rose 4.8% in the 12 months to the end August, taking the city’s average property price to £117,350.

By comparison, the Halifax house price index shows a monthly fall of 1.8% in August, compared to July, taking the annual decline in the average price of a home to 10.9%.

The Land Registry data also confirms that transactions have been roughly halved with 58,763 homes changing hands between March and June, 46% fewer than in the same period of 2007.

Earlier this week, the Council of Mortgage Lenders announced that it would no longer attempt to predict the direction of house prices in the short-term because the exercise was futile.

The Council blamed the shortage of mortgage funds and a lack of confidence for the uncertainties that currently surround the market.

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