Land Registry House Price Index: House prices continue to rise

06/03/14
News

Land Registry House Price IndexHouse prices in England and Wales rose by 1% in January according to the Land Registry.

The rise in January is broadly in line with the other two major house price surveys, from the Halifax and Nationwide, which put the increases at 1.1% and 0.7% respectively.

However, the Land Registry puts the annual rise at 4.2%, half the figure given by the Nationwide and well below that of the Halifax.

As usual property in London showed the sharpest annual rise, up by an average of 10.2% over the past 12 months. Although, the North East showed the highest rise in the month of February, beating the capital, and up by 2.6%.

No parts of the UK have seen a fall in house prices over the past 12 months.

The average house price in England and Wales is now at £168,356; although this masks a huge gap between the cheapest and most expensive property. According to the Land Registry the cheapest property sold for just £10,000 in January, whilst the most expensive changed hands for £28.5 million.

Repossessions fall

The rate of property repossessions continued to fall, down 33% over the 12 month period to November 2013, the latest month for which data is available for.

Experts believe this is due to the on-going environment of low interest rates, the improving economy and falling rate of unemployment.