House prices stall again with the average home remaining £3k below its summer peak, official data shows
01-15-2015
- House prices sit at £271k - in the summer they had reached £274k
- London property values down £13k on August peak
- Typical first-time buyer forks out £208k to get on the ladder
By Lee Boyce for Thisismoney.co.uk
House prices stalled between October and November, official figures confirmed today, as the property market continued to retreat from its recent peak in August.
Property prices edged up just 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis between October and November 2014, keeping the average home to £271,000, the Office for National Statistics revealed this morning.
This is below an historic high of £274,000 reached in August. It takes the annual rate of increase in the average price of a home to 10 per cent in the year to November, down from 10.4 per cent the month before. In November 2013, the average house price was £248,000.
House price growth: Property values are up 10% on November 2013 - but this is slowest rate since April
The data put a typical property value in London at £501,000, £13,000 less than the August high. Despite the fall, the ONS data showed the largest annual increase was in London, with values up 15.3 per cent in November, followed by the East at 11.9 per cent and South East at 10.8 per cent.
It comes as a report last week predicted house prices to contract this year, with values in the capital being the main drag. The Centre for Business and Economics Research believe prices will drop 3.3 per cent in London.
Excluding London and the South East, house prices were up 7.1 per cent over the year to November 2014. The index lags a month behind others
The ONS added that house prices are no longer at record levels in any region, with the majority having reached a record level in August 2014.
Price blip: The annual change in house prices have been on the slide in the last two months
Graham Davidson, managing director of Sequre Property Investment, said: 'We are not surprised by the slowing rate of house prices over the course of November.
'While seasonality can account for some of this slight decline in growth, it was likely that prices in many places in the UK would have to start to slacken at some point.
'London and the South East in particular were bound to experience a slump, as the rate of increase simply could not continue.'
Soaring ahead: Prices in the capital sit at £501,000 - but this is £13k less than August
Elsewhere, the data shows first-time buyers face paying 11 per cent more for a property than they did a year ago.
The typical price paid by someone taking their first step on the property ladder reaching £208,000 in November.
ANNUAL HOUSE PRICE GROWTH DURING 2014
Jan - 6.8%, Feb - 9.2%, Mar – 8%
Apr - 9.9%, May - 10.4%, Jun - 10.2%
Jul - 11.5%, Aug - 11.7%, Sept - 12.1%
Oct - 10.4%, Nov – 10%
.
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: 'On the assumption that there will be some pick-up in housing market activity during 2015 from current lows, we expect house prices to rise by a solid but unspectacular five per cent in 2015.
'This compares with the peak double-digit annual house price increases seen earlier in 2014.'
The CEBR predicts prices to fall 0.6 per cent during 2015. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors believes they will rise by three per cent while Halifax expects an increase of between three to five per cent.
Upmarket estate agents Savills expects property prices to rise two per cent while the Office for Budget Responsibility expects house values to surge 7.4 per cent.