Property prices fell by 1% in June, according to the Land Registry, which measures the figure of every housing transaction in England and Wales. This means annual growth now sits at just 0.1% over the past twelve months, as the average cost of a property comes to £180,781.
Geographically, London saw the greatest falls, says the report which found average prices there fell 2.5%, bringing the annual rate of growth there now to 2.4%. Other areas recording significant falls are the West Midlands and East Anglia which saw prices fall by 1.75% and 1.9% respectively.
In contrast, the North East is recording healthier growth with prices up 4.1% over the past twelve months, and up 3.1% in June.
Transactions were also down year-on-year by 39% to 57,507 from 93,917.
Economists took these figures as further evidence that there will be no swift recovery: ‘With evidence mounting that the economic slowdown is gathering pace and few signs of an end to the problems in mortgage markets, it is hard to see what will bring an end to house price falls,’ said Ed Stansfield from Capital Economics. ‘Indeed, nothing in today’s data lead us to change our view that prices will fall by 15% this year and continue falling in 2009 and through 2010.’
