House prices fall 10% in a year

Land Registry October data shows a continued decline in annual house price change, with a movement of -10.1 per cent. This marks the fourteenth consecutive month where annual price change has decreased in England and Wales.

The monthly change stands at -1.5 per cent and the average house in England and Wales is worth £165,529. Prices are now at a similar level to what they were during the summer of 2006.

Sales volumes in England and Wales remain low. The number of recorded property transactions per month averaged 54,488 in the months May to August 2008.

Commenting on the Land Registry house price data, Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist said: "Land Registry data shows house prices fell 1.5% in October taking the annual rate of decline to 10.1%. This is still below the falls signalled by both the Nationwide Building Society and HBOS. Land Registry figures, which tend to lag the cycle because of the point in the process at which they are captured, are likely to weaken further over coming months. Once again, house price falls were distributed across all the regions in England and Wales. House prices in London fell by almost 2% in October but, on an annual comparison, continue to hold up slightly better than all other regions (having fallen by 8.6% since October 2007).

Meanwhile transaction data relating to the month of August plumbed to a new low, a trend which was almost certainly exacerbated by the speculation surrounding the possibility of a stamp duty holiday. More timely data from HM Revenue and Customs suggests that the picture has improved a little. Subsequently, the lack of housing turnover is now being very visibly reflected in a drop in high street spending on consumer durables. The collapse of MFI is indicative of this squeeze."