House prices in England and Wales see summer growth

Your Move/ Reeds Rains HPI: house prices increase in August.

House prices in England and Wales continued to grow in August, the Your Move Reeds Rains house price index shows.

While month-on-month growth was slower than previous months at 0.1%, prices have increased by 4.3% in the year to August.

Average house prices now stand at £292,921.

Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, said: “The new market data shows us once again that there is no single housing market but the sentiment, we believe, remains singularly positive – there is demand for affordable property and there are people who, bearing in mind the transaction volumes recorded, have the appetite to make a move.”

While activity in England & Wales was lower than last year, levels in August were up 2.6% on July.

In London Lewisham (18.7%), Barking and Dagenham (18%), Waltham Forest (16.3%) and Bexley (16%) saw significantannual house price growth.

For the whole of London growth stood at 4.6%, having fallen by 0.5% in a month.

Adrian Gill added: “It will be necessary for the government to provide continued support to consumers, housebuilders and the property industry as a whole and ultimately ensure that there are enough houses - and finance available - to help people realise their dreams of homeownership.

“Whether this will come when the Autumn Statement is announced is yet to be seen but no doubt many will hope it is yet again strongly positioned on the political agenda.”