LONDON: Property prices in Britain have shown an increase -- for the first time since June -- during mid-September to mid-October, according to property website Rightmove. This is a clear indication that the property market is on way to stabilisation, the agency said.
Rightmove, which carried out a survey, found that house prices on an average have gone up by 0.5 per cent during the period compared with the previous period. The average asking price for a property has gone up to 196,348 pounds from 195,407, while over 100,000 new properties have come into the market during this period.
The survey also indicated that the annual rate of increase was mostly steady at 1.5 per cent compared with 1.6 per cent in the previous survey.
Another indication of happier times is that the average number of unsold properties on estate agents' books fell to 71 from 72 in the last survey.
Rightmove's director Miles Shipside, however, cautioned that the current figures are not indicative of a full recovery, which is still way off. There must be more first time buyers, lower mortgage rates and a continuation of realistic pricing by sellers and their estate agents, he said.
Rightmove's study also found that prices in London had gone up 0.7 per cent, basically because the boroughs are closely associated with the staging of the Olympic games. Prices had gone up by as much as 4.6 per cent in Tower Hamlets, and 3.1 per cent in the neighbouring of Newham. But, prices in the West Midlands, East Anglia and Wales are continuing to fall.
Prices of detached houses have gone up the most -- 2.2 per cent in asking prices in the last year. Flats and apartments have increased by just 0.5 per cent, Rightmove said.
Another property website, Primelocation, said the number of properties on sale in the countryside has risen by almost 50 per cent in a year. It revealed that owners are seeking artificially high prices and there is no reason for prices to go up outside London.
Posted
on : Tue, 18 Oct 2005 07:40 GMT | General News
By : Paula Jenkins
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