January 2008 House Price Index

December’s figures show a monthly price drop of 0.4% and an annual increase of 6.7%.

The average house price is now £184,469. There is downward trend in house prices but the annual rate is still positive. The weakening market is shown in the price fall this month.

This month is the first since 2005 showing that England and Wales have had a negative monthly change.

London had a 0.6% rise in prices that was greater than for the county as a whole.

London’s high annual change of 14.3% is kept high by the monthly increases at the start of 2007. But the prices in the last three months have shown a fall to more modest rates. December’s average house price for London was £354,625 and for the rest of England and Wales the figure is £184,469.

All regions in England and Wales saw increases in average prices for the twelve months. London is the highest with 14.3% the lowest is East Midlands with 0.5%. The North East had the highest monthly rise of 2.2% and East Midlands had the largest drop this month of –3.3%.

Apart from London, twelve other counties and unitary authorities had increases of 10% or higher. The City of Nottingham had the lowest annual price change of 0.1%.

The highest annual price increase within the metropolitan districts was Oldham. The highest monthly increase of 1.7% was South Tyneside with Knowsley having the largest fall in prices of –2.4%.

Within London the highest borough increase was Kensington and Chelsea these had a rise of 28%. A l.6% monthly rise was seen in both Tower Hamlets and Lewisham. Newham had an annual growth of 7% making it the lowest borough in terms of annual price change. Camden, in December, had a price drop of –1%.

Sales for the months July to October were 103,374 per month compared to 117,086 for the same period last year.

Some of the areas with low transaction figures include City of London, Rutland, Isle of Anglesey, Torfean, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent.

The number of properties sold in 2007 for over £lm was 671 up 31% from 2006. The number of properties sold in London for over £1m increased by 20% from 281 in 2006 to 338 in 2007.