The price of actual property sales recorded in the UK in July rose by 0.4%, latest figures show

The UK Land Registry’s flagship House Price Index shows the average price of a home is now £166,798 and indicates that other data from building societies and analysts showing prices falling perhaps do not reflect reality.
 
All the latest house price indices published in the last couple of weeks have been gloomy with prices either static or falling.
 
But the July data from the Land Registry shows a monthly increase and also shows that on an annual basis price are 6.7% higher than they were a year ago. With some indicators showing price falls, Land Registry data is often considered a lagging indicator of house prices because they reflect transactions completed as much as three months prior to the registration of the purchase.
 
Nine regions in England and Wales experienced increases in their average property values over the last 12 months. The region with the highest annual price change is London with an increase of 12.1% while the region with the greatest annual price fall is the North East with a fall of 1.4%.
 
The South West experienced the greatest monthly rise with a rise of 2.2% while Wales experienced the most significant monthly price fall with a decline of 1.1%.
 
The most up to date figures available show that during May 2010, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales rose by 8% to 49,412 from 45,814 in May 2009. The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million increased by 67% between May 2009 and May 2010, from 255 to 426.
 
The data has been welcomed by the industry. Michael Groves, managing director of Manchester’s leading estate agents, Thornley Groves, said it shows that it is not all doom and gloom.
 
‘This is more positive news but it reflects what we have been saying for some time. We believe strongly that the state of the market in Manchester has been bucking the national trend throughout 2010,’ he said.
 
Property website Rightmove found sellers slashed prices by 1.7% during the month to August 7, sending the average asking price down by £4,091 to £232,241 and the July UK Housing Market Survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors showed that more surveyors reported a fall than a rise in house prices for the first time since July 2009.
 
The latest report from the Nationwide indicated a 0.5% fall in month on month house prices in July based on its mortgage approval data. And Halifax said the mixed pattern of monthly rises and falls over the first seven months of the year was consistent with a slowing market.