House prices in England and Wales down fractionally by 0.2% in August

House price growth in England and Wales fell marginally in August by 0.2%, which left the average England and Wales house price at £297,398, up 2.1% year on year, the latest index shows.

The data from the Your Move index also shows that sales increased by 5% month on month and are up 6% year on year on a seasonally adjusted basis.

All regions in England and Wales have continued to record annual price growth led by the East of England with a 5.5% rise to a new peak of £325,616 while London has lowest rate of regional house price growth at 0.7%.

An analysis in the index report shows that annual increases peaked in February 2016 at 9.1%, with both London and the South East boosting the national house price inflation figure by over 2%.

The data also shows that the in the South West prices are up 3.9% annually, up 3.5% in the East Midlands and up 3.9% in the North West. Wales has seen an annual rise of 1.8%, the North East a rise of 1.2% and Yorkshire and Humber an increase of 1%.

In the East of England region price growth has been led by Southend-on-Sea, up 11%, Luton up 9.2%, Bedfordshire up 9.1% and Peterborough up 8.6%. No authority in the region has seen prices fall for eight months.

Elsewhere, Poole recorded price growth of 12.9%, Blaenau Gwent was up 12.8%), Pembrokeshire up 10.3% and Rutland up 16.3%, while the biggest fall on an annual basis is in Carmarthenshire with prices down 7.2% over the year.

House prices in London fell by an average of 1.4% in July, leaving the average price in the capital at £591,459. Over the year, though, prices are still up by £4,134 or 0.7% compared to July 2016. In July some 21 of the 33 London boroughs saw price falls, however 20 boroughs have increased over the year.

Much of the fall in London’s price in the last month is down to the most expensive boroughs. In Kensington and Chelsea, the most expensive borough, prices fell by 3.4% to £1,823,659, in the City of Westminster, the second most expensive, prices were down 6.8% month on month and 9.8% year on year, the biggest annual fall, to £1,347,536.

Just two of the cheapest third of boroughs have seen prices fall in the last year. In Greenwich price were down 3.9% and Enfield down 0.9%. By contrast Croydon, up 5.4% annually, and Lewisham up 6.7%, both saw new peak average prices in the month. Looking at transactions, sales in the three months from May to July 2017 were up 7% on the same period last year.

‘We’re seeing a balanced market this year. Regions like the East of England are closing the gap on the traditionally stronger performers like the South East as first time buyers drive growth in search of more affordable housing,’ said Oliver Blake, managing director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents.

‘The rise in transactions in August and strong regional performance highlights a monthly slowdown of prices in the capital. However, on an annual basis, London’s boroughs, particularly those in the south east, are continuing to show steady growth,’ he added.