News from the Residential Property Investor, the bi-monthly magazine for RLA members other artilces from the February / March 2002 issue RPI news archive

House prices buoyant after September setback - February / March 2002

Despite an apparent blip in the last quarter of 2001, house prices across the country are continuing their inexorable upward path.

Latest figures from Halifax, Britain's largest mortgage lender, show prices rising by 1.6 per cent in January, putting the average price of a house in Britain at juts over £100,000.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors agrees prices rose in January. Its conclusions are based on a comparison of agents who reported rises against those who reported falls. Some 46 per cent more reported prices on the increase ­ the biggest margin for six months. Completed sales were running at the highest rates for 13 years, it said.

Both Halifax and RICS reported regional differences. The former had average house prices in Greater London at £175,900, in West Midlands at £92,900 and in Humberside at £63,100. RICS warned that in the West Midlands the margin between agents reporting price increases and price falls actually decreased by 1 per cent in January.

In the North West, it reported: 'House price inflation quickened in the three months to January. Buoyant demand saw agreed sales rise in December and January. Surveyors expect the current rate of price growth to be maintained over the next three months'.

Overall 'the housing market is showing considerable strength right across the board', said RICS spokesman Ian Perry. 'The fear of recession, which had held people back at the end of the year has largely disappeared as has the downturn in the market following September 11. This is reflected in the renewed confidence we are seeing from homebuyers, and rising prices'.

This latest data came just days after a survey published by the Nationwide building society which showed prices rose by only 0.2 per cent during the same month. The rival mortgage lender argued that the rise took the annual property inflationary figure to 11.7 per cent, a far cry from that of more than 16 per cent predicted by the Halifax.

Meanwhile latest Land Registry figures taking in the period immediately after the attack on the World Trade Center last September, show average house prices rising at 8.5 per cent per annum. Its October to December statistics put the average price of property at £119,000, up from £110,000 for the same period in 2000.

Average house prices in England and Wales
October to December 2001

Source: HM Land Registry

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