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House price growth across regions – LSL

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  • 16/07/2018
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House price growth across regions – LSL
Average prices in England and Wales edged up on an annual basis in June while slightly dropping on a monthly basis, data showed.

On an annual basis, prices rose at 2.1% from 1.8% in May, bringing to an end a slowdown in annual price growth that began in the middle of last year, according to the latest LSL house price index. That makes the average house in England and Wales in June worth £303,960 – up more than £6,000 on last June.

However, on a monthly basis, average prices in England and Wales were slightly down in June, falling by 0.2% from May.

The report found that annual price growth in the capital has started to accelerate over the last month and without London and the South East, growth would have been a little lower – just 2.0%.

While Greater London is the only region to have seen growth accelerate, it is far from being the strongest performer, with both the North East and West Midlands growing more strongly. Furthermore, all regions continue to record annual growth, while transactions are down by 8% year-on-year.

 

Regional overview

Two thirds of England and Wales’ unitary authority areas – 72 out of 108 – continued to record annual price rises in May. Overall prices were up 1.8%, or £5,485 on a year earlier.

Areas where prices have dropped are concentrated in either Wales, eight of the 36, or in the South, with eight in the South East and five in the South West.

The North East continues its strong performance, with prices up 3.7%, led by strong markets in Darlington, up 7.9% annually, and Northumberland, up 8.7%. The West Midlands is also growing well, with prices up 3.2%, and prices in Warwickshire hitting a new peak average and up 5.7% over the year.

Prices in the West Midlands conurbation are also growing above average, up 5.4% – the strongest growth among the 12 major urban centres in England and Wales, with Leicester, up 4.3%, also growing strongly.

It is in Rutland, East Midlands, where annual and monthly growth is strongest. Prices there are up 7.0% in May to hit a new peak price, and up 18.5% over the year. However, it did have the lowest number of transactions in the country, which in part accounts for the big swings. Overall, though, the East Midlands was the only region were prices were up in all of its unitary authorities.

Even in regions where prices have fared less well, there are pockets that continue to flourish. The South East, for example, where prices were down 0.4% in May and annual growth is 0.5%, the weakest of any region, saw more areas hitting a new peak average price than any other. East Sussex, Oxfordshire, West Berkshire and the Isle of Wight have all set new highs and show above average annual growth: 7.8%, 6.1%, 5.1% and 3.4%, respectively.

On an annual basis, Windsor and Maidenhead in the same region shows the largest reduction in prices for the third month running, down 12.4% over the year. Outside of Greater London, this unitary authority also has the highest average house price of all 108 in England and Wales, at £532k.

 

London overview

Prices in London are bucking the national trend on both a monthly basis, where they were up 0.2% in June, and annually, where growth rose to 2.8%.

While there has been a turnaround in the overall trend in London’s prices, there has also been a turnaround within the capital itself and its constituent boroughs: the top of the market is now driving growth after months in which prices in more expensive areas struggled.

The three most expensive boroughs – Kensington and Chelsea, where average prices are £1.97 million, Westminster with £1.73 million and Camden with £1.09 million – have all seen price increases over the last year. Up 4.4%, 1.5% and 1.8%, respectively, this has helped boost the Greater London average.

It is far from a consistent picture at the top of the market, however. The remaining two names in the top five – the City of London and Hammersmith and Fulham have seen double digit drops, down 16.9% and 10.4%, respectively – the biggest falls other than Southwark and Wandsworth. The biggest increase in the capital, meanwhile, has been in Redbridge, where average prices are well below the London average at £465,183.

The influence of the high priced property areas is significant, however, and is enough to see the capital reporting rising price growth despite the fact that more than two thirds of boroughs in the capital – 24 out of 33 – have seen prices drop on an annual basis.

Oliver Blake, managing director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, said: “Two key factors could give rise to cautious optimism this month. The overall month on month decline has slowed to its lowest since February and in London there was modest house price growth for the first time since January.”

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