According to the latest LSL house price index home sales reached 90,000 in July, the strongest levels July since 2007 when the market was building up to its pre-crisis peak. However there was a total of 120,845 sales in July 2007, around 35% higher than the current levels.
The strongest sales growth has been seen outside of London and the South East. The North and Yorkshire & Humberside have seen the fastest sales growth, with Q2 sales jumping 29% and 25% respectively on the previous quarter. It is purchases of detached properties which have seen the biggest quarterly boost – in the North, sales of this type of home increased by 41%.
House price rises are accelerating across all six regions with East Anglia leading the way with 6.3% annual increase. Overall, July house prices rose by 0.3% on a monthly basis and 3.7% annually. The average house price now stands at a new record £279,515.
Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, commented:
“The property market may have moved down a gear, but house prices are still putting one foot in front of the other. These more pedestrian monthly price rises of late have nonetheless carried the average house price past the checkered flag, to a new record £279,515. The housing recovery is cruising along comfortably across the country, and in 27% of the local authority areas of England property prices are at new peak levels – encompassing Warrington, the West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Bristol, and Devon.
“After spearheading house price growth for the past five years, London has been knocked off pole position and now falls eighth out of the ten regions in England and Wales in terms of annual rises – ranking only above the North and Wales, with 1.8% price growth year-on-year in June 2015. This has halved from 3.6% in May, and this downtrend is now lowering the average growth for England and Wales as a whole. London has been stalled by more aggressive graduated Stamp Duty and taxation levied at the highest rungs of the property market, plus the rising value of Sterling compared to the Euro."
