Land Registry data shows annual house price growth dip

The latest data released by the agents’ favourite house price source, the Land Registry, shows that prices in England and Wales rose 4.6 per cent in the year to the end of July - down from an annual rate of 5.4 per cent just a month earlier. 

This means the average property value in England and Wales to £183,861 following a particularly strong July, during which the average price rose 1.7 per cent. 

The region with the most significant annual price increase is the East of England, up 8.9 per cent in the year. The East also experienced the greatest monthly rise in July with a movement of 2.8 per cent.

The North East saw the lowest annual price increase of just 0.4 per cent, while Wales saw the only monthly price decrease in July with a fall of 0.3 per cent.

Sales and repossessions during May 2015, the most up-to-date figures available, show that the number of completed house sales in England & Wales decreased by 15 per cent to 65,619 compared with 77,488 in the same month of 2014.

The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1m decreased by 21 per cent to 878 from 1,113 a year earlier.

Repossessions in England and Wales decreased by 47 per cent to 496 compared with 937 in May 2014 and the region with the greatest fall in the number of repossession sales was the South East.

The Land Registry data covers over 86,070 residential property sales in England and Wales lodged for registration in July. The most expensive sale that month was in London SW1 (£12.9m) and the cheapest was in Burnley, Lancashire (£10,000).

These LandReg figures are crudely in line with Nationwide index data released at the end of last week, which also showed a slowdown in annual house price inflation.