House Price Update to 10 August 2011

UK House Prices Situation: London rises while the rest of the UK falls

UK House Prices Forecast: Little change likely for remainder of 2011

Prices Rise In London But Fall Elsewhere

House prices continue to rise in London, with the latest RICS Housing Survey reporting that 30% more surveyors in London saw house prices rise than fall in July.

Every other region in the UK is experienced falling prices, says RICS, with the West Midlands faring worst once again, followed by East Anglia and Yorkshire & Humberside.

Surveyors across the country expect house prices to fall in coming months – 13% more say they expect prices to fall over the next three months than rise.

Sales Down & Stocks Up For Estate Agents

Estate agents recorded an average of just 14.2 sales per month in July, according to RICS – the lowest level seen since June 2009 and far below the long run average of 26.3. Meanwhile, average stock levels rose slightly, creeping up by 0.7% to 70.2 homes per estate agent.

This highlights the stagnant and immovable nature of the market in most areas of the UK at present; houses simply are not selling. Sellers will not or cannot lower their prices and buyers will not or cannot pay the asking prices, often because they cannot fund a big enough deposit to secure the mortgages they need.

Halifax Records 0.3% Rise in July

Mortgage lender Halifax recorded a 0.3% rise in average house prices in July, along with a 0.5% rise over the last three months.

However, Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said that the housing market has "little genuine direction" and that Halifax expects "this pattern to continue over the rest of the year."

Presumably, if Halifax striped out London house price data, the picture would look different and would reflect the regional falls reported by RICS and other house price indices.

Read about UK House Price indexes / key statistics that track the ups and downs of house prices

Read our take on the Credit Crisis the effect on UK House Prices and Mortgages. A Special Report

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