UK House Prices Situation at 25 5 2007: Growth slowing in most areas, still strong in London

UK House Prices Forecast: General slowdown of growth, but significant falls unlikely at present

FT House Price Index Unchanged Since January

The Financial Times House Price Index, which is based on Land Registry data for all residential property sales in the England and Wales, has stayed at 8.4% for the 4th month running.

This means that the national average rate of house price inflation has remained constant since January. The figures showed that London remains the area with highest growth, with a 13.3% annual growth rate – if London was excluded, the national average rate of house price inflation would be reduced to 7.1%.

Six out of nine regions are experiencing slowing growth rates, according to the index, with only the south-west experiencing above-average growth in house prices.

The FT index is produced by Acadametrics, whose Chairman Peter Williams commented that, "Nationally house price increases have slowed and flattened out".

Halifax House Price Index Shows Stable Growth

The Halifax bank's latest house price index shows that the average house price in the UK is continuing to rise, with an average increase of 1.1% in April, giving an annual rate of 10.95% - fractionally down from March's 11% average.

Of course, the average price is only a very broad reflection of the national market and regional variations in growth rate continue to grow, with the bulk of above-inflation growth concentrated in London, the south-west and the south-east.

Martin Ellis, Halifax Chief Economist, commented that "Negative real earnings growth and the increase in interest rates since last August…" would contribute to a "slowdown in house price inflation over the coming months".

The Halifax index is based on mortgage-backed sales only, and so excludes cash sales, making it less representative of the total market than the FT index, which uses Land Registry figures that include all sales.