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The Communities and Local Governments’ March House Price Index

19 May 2007

• The Communities and Local Government (CLG) House Price Index for March 2007 indicated that the mix-adjusted house price increased by over £2,000 between February and March 2007.

• The study revealed that mix-adjusted house prices, not seasonally adjusted, reached £206,890, up from the £204,556 reported in February.
• Despite increases in house prices, inflation dropped from 11.8 per cent to 10.9 per cent.
• Annual house price inflation within the capital also dropped, from 16.1 per cent to 13.9 per cent in March, the CLG stated.
• According to the report, the rise in UK prices between February and March could be attributed to increases in average prices for semi-detached dwellings, which rose 2.2 per cent, and terraced houses which rose by1.5 per cent.
• Flats increased by 1.1 per cent and bungalows 0.7 per cent, the CLG indicated.
• However, the study showed that detached houses reported a monthly fall of 0.2 per cent between February and March.

• The CLG study indicated that the UK annual house price inflation rate for the three months to March was 11.2 per cent and 14.3 per cent in London.
• Regionally, the report indicated that inflation rate in England fell from 10.7 per cent in February to 9.8 per cent in March.
• The inflation rate also fell in Scotland, from 6 per cent to 14.8 per cent; while in Wales the rate of inflation fell from 10.7 per cent to 9.7 per cent.
• According to the study, Northern Ireland was the only home country where the inflation rate rose, from 48.5 per cent to 50.1 per cent.
• The highest inflation rate was in London, which recorded a figure of 13.9 per cent. London was followed by the South East of England at 10 per cent, the South West of England at 9.3 per cent and the East of England, which reported an inflation rate of 9.1 per cent.
• According to the report, inflation rates were lower in the North West of England at 8.4 per cent, the North East of England at 7.9 per cent, and Yorkshire and the Humber at 7.8 per cent.
• The lowest inflation rates were recorded in the West and East Midlands, at 7.1 per cent and 7.0 per cent respectively.

• The English region with the highest average house price in March remained London at £316,308.
• The lowest average price recorded in the index was in the North East, which featured an average price of £144,383.
• Mix-adjusted average house prices in March were £214,424 in England, £161,191 in Wales, £151,468 in Scotland and £217,579 in Northern Ireland, the CLG revealed.
• The CLG, in its regular monthly study of the housing market, revealed that the average price paid by first-time buyers across the whole of the UK stood at £157,917 in March.
• The average price of a property paid by former owner occupiers was £230,916 in March, the study showed.
• The mix-adjusted House Price Index is based on a sample of property purchase completions data, of about 50,000 per month from about 50 different mortgage lenders and providers who supply data through the Regulated Mortgage Survey (RMS) of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and BankSearch.