LONDON - The Office for the Deputy Prime Minister today released figures for the month of June, which show that the annual house price inflation has slowed down to 5 percent as compared to the inflation in May, which stood at 6 percent.
The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott's office said that the prices increased by 0.8 percent in June as against those in May. This was nearly a gain of a percentage point over the figures, which were pegged at 1.8 percent at the same period last year. The average house price in the UK increased to £184,152 as compared to £182,651 in May, a rise of just £1,500.
These figures from the Deputy Prime Minister's offices only served to compound the woes of the housing market, which is already reeling. The misery that prevails in the market was further added to by the findings of the Land Registry. The figures from the Registry suggested that the annual house price inflation was 5.4 percent. Plus the rates of houses grew by just 0.8 percent over the second quarter of the year. However, it must be noted that neither Mr. Prescott's office nor the Registry officials have taken the 0.25 interest rate cut into account.
"House price inflation in all regions of England fell except in London where it rose from 1.6 per cent to 1.8 per cent. The highest inflation rates were in the north in North West (9.9 per cent), North East (8.8 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (8.4)," the Deputy Prime Minister's office said in a statement.
There was some cheer for first-time buyers who shelled out just £150,356 in June as against the £199,450 paid by former owner-occupiers. For the first-time buyers, this meant that the inflation fell to 6.7 percent in June as against the 7.7 percent in May. Commenting on these set of figures, Alan Clarke, UK economist at BNP Paribas said, "It is consistent with recent evidence that shows the housing market is stabilizing."
Posted
on : Mon, 08 Aug 2005 16:50 GMT | Mortgages News
By : Mark Richardson
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