House price increases ease

The UK housing market slowed down towards the end of this year, two authoritative studies have shown.

The Land Registry’s monthly snapshot of all completed housing market transactions in England and Wales, published yesterday, shows that average house prices were up 7.1% year-on-year in November.

However, the average selling price of £176,581 was 0.1% down compared to October.

The region which experienced the greatest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months is London with a movement of 17.4%. By contrast, the average house purchase in Wales was 1.7% higher than a year before, representing the smallest annual increase for any region. The biggest monthly rise was seen in the west midlands (1.7%).

The average UK house price is still below the peak figure of £181,191, which was recorded by the registry in November 2007.

The Land Registry’s picture of a slowing housing market was confirmed by new figures from the Nationwide Building Society, which said that house prices rose by 1.1% in the final quarter of the year. This statistic, which is based on loans being taken out rather than completed transactions, translated into an 8.3% increase compared to the lender’s figure for the fourth quarter of 2013. The equivalent figure at the end of last year was 10.5%.

London was again the top performing region for the second year running with prices up 17.8% over the last 12 months.