Land Registry detects 12.2% slide in house prices

The official record of the collapse of the housing market in England and Wales has been updated by latest figures from the Land Registry.

In November, the Registry noted a 1.9% fall in the average cost of a home, taking the annual decline to 12.2%.

The pace of decline accelerated in October when prices fell 1.5% on a monthly basis and 10.1% annually.

November saw prices drop for the fifteenth consecutive month, pushing the average cost of a home down to £161,883, or the same level as in February 2006.

In terms of property types, terraced homes saw the biggest annual fall, down 13.5% in November to an average £124,700.

On a regional basis, the East Midlands experienced the biggest annual fall, at 14.2%.

In Wales prices were down 11.7% year-on-year but month-on-month, prices stabilised between October and November.

All regions in England and Wales are now affected by the housing slump, having recorded annual price falls.

Turning to transactions, the Land Registry found that sales were down to 115,697 over the three months to the end of September, compared with 48,599 in the same period of 2007.

The Registry compiles its data from completed transactions and therefore lags behind other monitors of the UK housing market, some of which are now showing annual falls of close to 15%.

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