Land Registry: prices up 6.1% in a year, sales of £1...

The Land Registry says average house prices in England and Wales rose 6.1 per cent in the year to the end of February, taking the typical property value to £190,275 - that’s actually a tiny dip of 0.2 per cent since the end of January.

The regional breakdown indicates that London experienced the greatest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months - up 13.5 per cent - while North West England experienced the greatest monthly growth with an increase of 1.8 per cent in February alone.

The North East saw the only annual price fall with a drop of 3.2 per cent - it fell 1.2 per cent just in February, the Registry says.

Sales and repossessions data for December, the most up-to-date figures available, show that the number of completed house sales in England and Wales fell by six per cent to 73,326 compared with 78,208 in December 2014.

Despite agents’ concern over the effect of stamp duty on high value properties, the Registry says the number of properties sold for more than £1m increased by two per cent to 1,077 from 1,052 a year earlier.

Repossessions fell by 50 per cent to 356 compared with 706 in December 2014; the region with the greatest fall in the number of repossessions was London with a fall of 67 per cent from December 2014.