RICS: Land Registry May house price data

Commenting on the Land Registry figures, Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist: "More evidence that the housing market is stabilising is visible in the latest figures from the Land Registry. Completed transactions have settled down at just over 30,000 per month, roughly a quarter of the long run average. If more timely buyer enquiries and mortgage approvals data is anything to go by, the actual level of completed sales is likely to climb towards 40,000 over the coming months. Even this improvement, however, continues to demonstrate the adverse impact of the lack of mortgage finance on activity. Meanwhile the Land Registry numbers also show the price trend to be flattening with a monthly drop of just 0.2% in May. The year-on-year fall now stands at 15.9% compared with a low of 16.4% in February."