Hometrack: Unseasonably strong growth in November
High levels of housing market activity led to strong house price growth in November (photo: pixmedia)
Monday, 27, Nov 2006 11:39
Unseasonably high levels of activity in the property market in November have resulted in accelerated house price growth, according to Hometrack.
The property specialist reports house prices were up 0.6 per cent in November, from October's 0.4 per cent rise.
Annual growth is now at 5.3 per cent, the fastest rate of annual house price inflation since August 2004, with the average property in England and Wales now valued at £169,600.
"Buyers may have shrugged off the August interest rate rise, but the prospect of a further increase in November seems to have forced those who were thinking of moving to actually do so," commented Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research.
"The result has been a sustained increase in market activity over the last two months. But set against a background of dwindling supply, house prices have continued to rise, a trend that has now spread beyond London and the south-east," he added.
The report finds the volume of sales agreed by agents was up 4.8 per cent, with the biggest rise in the south-west at 12.3 per cent, followed by the east at 10.7 per cent. The number of agreed sales in London was also up by 7.1 per cent.
Mr Donnell concluded: "The growth in sales means that the supply of homes on the market has declined over November by 3.3 per cent, the sharpest decrease for a year.
"Unsurprisingly the greatest squeeze on supply has been in London (-4.7 per cent) and the south-east (-six per cent)."