20 things

20 things you should know about

17 March 2007

1 The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) House Price Index for January revealed that house price inflation rose to 10.9 per cent.

2 This was a 1 per cent rise from the December 2006 findings.

3 Annual house price inflation rose to 13.2 per cent in London, up from the December findings of 11.8 per cent.

4 Looking at the three months to January 2007, annual house price inflation reached 9.9 per cent.

5 This figure reached 11.6 per cent for London, the DCLG revealed.

6 Mix-adjusted house prices reached £212,845 in England and £162,610 in Wales, the report suggested.

7 Mix-adjusted average house prices reached £150,509 in Scotland, and £198,476 in Northern Ireland.

8 England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all saw increases in inflation. The inflation rate in England rose from 8.9 per cent in December 2006 to 9.9 per cent in January 2007, while the inflation rate in Scotland rose from 15.2 per cent to 15.9 per cent.

9 In Wales the rate rose from 9.1 per cent to 10.2 per cent and in Northern Ireland the rate rose from 39.9 per cent to 42.5 per cent.

10 House price inflation rose in six of the English regions. The exceptions were the South East, where it remained constant, and North East and West Midlands, where it fell. The highest inflation rate was in London, where it reached 13.2 per cent followed by the North West at 11.1 per cent. Yorkshire and the Humber recorded findings of 10.7 per cent, with the South West house price inflation figure reaching 9.7 per cent in January.

11 Inflation rates were lower in the South East, at 8.7 per cent, the East, at 8.3 per cent, and the North East, at 8.2 per cent.

12 The lowest inflation rates were in the East and West Midlands, recording a figure of 7.6 per cent.

13 London remained the region with the highest average house price – reaching £305,248.

14 At the other end of the scale, the DCLG reported that average house prices in North East were the lowest, at £145,091.

15 The UK house price inflation rate for first-time buyers rose from 9.4 per cent in December to 10.6 per cent in January.

16 There was a rise of 1.9 per cent in the price index between December and January for properties bought by first-time buyers, compared with a rise of 0.8 per cent over the same period last year.

17 The average price paid by first-time buyers across the whole of the UK was £158,097 in January, while the average price paid by former owner occupiers was £225,415.

18 The inflation rate for former owner occupiers rose from 10 per cent in December to 11 per cent in January. There was a rise of 2.1 per cent in the prices index between December and January in the properties bought by former owner occupiers, compared with a rise of 1.2 per cent over the same period last year.

19 Since September 2005, the new mix-adjusted House Price Index is based on an enlarged sample of completions data – about 50,000 per month – from about 50 mortgage lenders who supply data through the Regulated Mortgage Survey of the Council of Mortgage Lenders and BankSearch.

20 Prior to this date the House Price Index was based on the Survey of Mortgage Lenders – about 25,000 completions per month. The number of cases received will also be affected by the total number of mortgages that have been

completed.