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Property transactions down 6.1% in 2015

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  • 30/03/2016
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Property transactions down 6.1% in 2015
House prices in England and Wales leapt by 6.1% to February, but property transactions failed to keep pace, the latest Land Registry House Price Index reveals.

The data showed that the number of property transactions from September to December 2015, fell by 6.1% compared to a year earlier to total 78,778. However, the Land Registry noted that the lag in recording data for the past two months meant reported sales were likely to see a steady rise.

Jeremy Leaf, a former RICS chairman and north London estate agent, said the decline in property transactions continued to be “a worry”.

“If people aren’t able to move in and out of the market when they want to, there will be an inevitable knock-on effect for the rest of the economy. On the ground we want to see more balance between supply and demand, and while we expect completions to rise in January and February as landlords attempt to beat the Stamp Duty hike from April, there remains a woeful lack of supply, which will push prices higher.”

On a more positive note, repossession volumes showed a downward trend, averaging 406 a month between September 2015 and December 2015, compared to 771 a month over a year earlier.

While house prices grew over the past year, the data showed that from January to February this year, prices suffered a 0.2% drop, taking the average house price to £190,275.

Unsurprisingly, London experienced the biggest annual house price increase across England and Wales, with a 13.5% rise to see house prices average £530,368 at the end of February. The North West saw the biggest jump in prices from January to February, taking the average price to £117,081, a 1.8% monthly increase.

The North East was the only region to see house prices fall from February 2015 to the same month a year later, bringing the average price to £97,582, a fall of 3.2%.

Prices for semi-detached houses and flats were up by 6.4% and 6.2% respectively over the past year, higher than the average annual increase of 6.1% across all property types. A typical semi-detached property in England and Wales will now cost buyers £180,191, compared to £183,754 for a flat or maisonette.

Richard Sexton, director of chartered surveyor e.surv, warned that a lack of supply was restricting the market.

“Those moving are facing fewer options, encouraging many to stay put and therefore reducing choice for all in the market. And first-timers are feeling the effect,” he said.

“It’s in the North East that first-time buyers are most likely to get value for money – and most likely to get a foot on the property ladder. It a fact that imbalances in the UK’s property market are becoming ever starker.”

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