20 things

House Price Index

19 August 2006

• The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) House Price Index revealed the mix-adjusted house price in the UK stood at £190,883 in June.
• This was a rise from the average price seen in May, which was £190,065.
• The report revealed that UK annual house price inflation dropped from 5.6 per cent in May, to 5.2 per cent in June. In London, annual house price inflation dropped 1.2 per cent, to 5.8 per cent in June.
• The DCLG attributed the rise in UK property prices between May and June to small rises in the price of semi-detached homes and terraced houses. Semi-detached property prices grew by 0.9 per cent, with terraced house prices rising by 0.7 per cent between May and June 2006.
• Regionally mix-adjusted house prices reached £198, 952 in England and £155,041 in Wales.
• The DCLG, formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) revealed Scotland’s mix-adjusted house prices reached £138,672 in June, while Northern Ireland recorded house prices of £149,784.
• London retained its title as the region with the highest average house price, at £279,763. The North East recorded the lowest average house price, at £138,998 for June 2006.
• The East, London, South East and South West were the only regions in which average house prices exceeded the national average.
• Regionally, England and Scotland reported falls in house price inflation, while inflation rose both in Wales and Northern Ireland.
• The inflation rate in England fell from 5.1 per cent in May to 4.6 per cent in June.
• In Northern Ireland the rate rose from 18.0 per cent to 18.5 per cent; with Wales recording a rise from 4.8 per cent in May, to 8.2 per cent.
• House price inflation fell in seven of the English regions and rose in two. The highest inflation rate was recorded in Yorkshire and the Humber (6.7 per cent) followed by London (5.8 per cent), North East (5.5 per cent) and South West (5.0 per cent).
• The DCLG also reported that inflation rates were lowest in the East, at 2.8 per cent and the East Midlands, which recorded an inflation rate of 1.9 per cent for June.
• The inflation rate in Scotland fell from 9.7 per cent in May to a June figure of 8.5 per cent.
• The Index revealed that the average property price paid by first-time buyers across the whole of the UK was £149,215 in May.
• The study revealed the average price paid by former owner occupiers reached £208,657.
• The DCLG confirmed UK house price inflation rate for first-time buyers rose from 6.3 per cent in May to 6.8 per cent in June. This was due to a rise of 0.5 per cent in prices between May and June in the properties bought by first- time buyers. This is compared with a smaller rise of less than 0.1 per cent over the same period last year.
• The inflation rate for former owner occupiers fell from 5.4 per cent in May to 4.7 per cent in June.
• The mix-adjusted house price series is produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and are being published on an experimental basis. Development of the methodology underpinning the indices has been undertaken in conjunction with the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The House Price Index will undergo a quality audit during 2007 with a view to gaining accreditation as a ‘National Statistic’.
• Since September 2005, the mix-adjusted government ODPM/DCLG House Price Index has been based on an enlarged sample of house price completions data, of approximately 50,000 per month from over 40 mortgage lenders and providers who supply data through the Regulated Mortgage Survey (RMS) of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)/BankSearch.