| UK
House Prices Situation: Overall stagnation
UK
House Prices Forecast: Real-term falls in 2008
Halifax
Figures Show Rebound In December - But Trend Remains Down
The
latest house price index figures from
Halifax show that on average, house prices rose by 1.3%
in December 2007.
This
follows three successive months of falls, meaning that
the overall average for the final quarter of 2007 was
0.8% lower than that for the third quarter. Prices finished
the year 5.2% higher than in December 2006, according
to Halifax.
Halifax
predicts that house prices are likely to be flat in 2008
- meaning real term falls after inflation is taken into
account - and said that such a mixed pattern of rises
and falls is "a typical characteristic of a subdued
market".
Land
Registry Pitches In With Positive November Figures
The
Land Registry's house price index is
widely accepted as one of the most authoritative guides
to house price trends, as it uses the actual sale prices
for all property sold in England and Wales - not just
properties on which mortgages are secured.
Its
only real downside is that it tends to lag behind the
major lenders' indices by one month, meaning that November's
edition has just been published.
The
Land Registry found that house prices increased by an
average of 0.6% in November, resulting in an annual increase
of 8.1%.
Regional
figures for November varied from a fall of 0.9% in the
North East to an average increase of 1.1% in London, with
most regions of England and Wales seeing increases between
0% and 0.5%.
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