CLG house price data causes concern for residential sector
UK house price indices continue to breed uncertainty.
Thursday, 15, Jul 2010 11:00
The growing uncertainty surrounding the stability of the UK residential housing market has been confirmed in the tentative rise in house prices recorded by Communities and Local Government (CLG).
Figures indicate that the average price of a UK home increased by 0.7 per cent between May and April, just 11 per cent higher than in May 2009, government statistics show.
The adjusted average house price in the UK for May stood at £209,505, reflecting just 1.7 per cent growth for the preceding three months.
This month-on-month increase stands in contrast to the small increase recorded in the Nationwide Building Society figures and the declines reported by Halifax and the Land Registry for the same month.
Commenting on the figures, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors chief economist Simon Rubinsohn suggested that "low transaction volumes" are adding to "volatility of the individual series".
He explained: "New instructions are now outstripping buyer interest and this has been reflected in the RICS price expectations series turning negative.
"Price expectations are still positive in London, the south-east, Scotland and the East Midlands but strongly negative in Wales, East Anglia and much of northern England."