31 July 07 House prices grind to a near stand still during July
Lowest rate of monthly growth for 18 months
House prices grew by just 0.1% over July, the lowest rate of growth since January 2006. Growth during the month was down on a 0.3% rise over June and a 0.6% increase in May. This loss of momentum has also fed through into the year on year rate of growth which currently stands at 5.9% compared to a recent high of 6.8% in April 2007.
And across the country...
Hometrack's July survey shows that across the country prices were up over the month in just three regions (London +0.2%, South East and +0.2% and Wales +0.1%) while average values were unchanged in 5 regions and down slightly in two (East Midlands -0.2% and Yorkshire & Humberside -0.1%).
The discrepancy between supply and demand continues to grow...
The growing discrepancy between supply and demand is impacting on other indicators. The average time to sell for example has increased across all areas from a recent low of 5.8 week in May to a current 6.5 weeks. And more price sensitive buyers has resulted in asking prices achieved slipping back by 0.6% from 95.7% in May to the current 9.51%.
Prices likely to slow over the coming months...
In the coming months the slowdown in the headline rate of growth is set to continue and it is likely that we will see pockets of the country where prices continue to weaken.
| Headline statistics | Jul-07 |
| Weighted Overall Average Price | £176,300 |
| Weighted Overall Average Price Change | 0.1% |
| Change in number of new properties listed | -1.1% |
| Change in no. of sales agreed | 0.9% |
| Sales price as a % of asking price | 95.1% |
| Change in number of new buyers registered | -3.3% |
| Time taken to sell (weeks) | 6.5 |
| Average number of viewings per sale | 11.1 |