House sales have recovered to the highest level for 7 years, with 4.6 per cent annual price growth outside London and the south east, according to LSL Property Services’ latest house index for England and Wales.
The index found that there were 90,000 sales in July, increasing 10 per cent in a month as the market climbed back from April’s regulatory changes.
Average house prices rose to £270,636, driven by the South East and London, where the average price hit £560,386.
David Newnes, director of LSL estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move, said that first-time buyers and buy-to-let landlords are helping the flow of activity in the UK housing market.
He said: “Overall 90,000 properties were sold across England and Wales in July, up 21 per cent on a year previously and representing the highest monthly total since November 2007.
“As the market emerges from the chrysalis of regulatory change, sales have climbed 10 per cent in the past month. But chequered supply across the country has created considerable regional variation in sales.”
Mr Newnes commented that housing policy should not be led astray by what is happening in prime central London.
He said: “If London and the south east are removed from the equation, the annual change in average houses prices drops by 5.3 per cent to 4.6 per cent.
“The tendrils of recovery may be branching out from the centre, but they haven’t yet unfurled to all corners of the country. Outside of London, the south east and East Midlands, prices dropped and stabilised across all other seven regions in June.”
Mr Newnes added that “a more thoughtful and prudent housing market is emerging” with lending stabilising to sustainable levels, while supply and demand is more balanced.
He said: “Further interventions or tighter rules could fracture the health of the recovery, particularly further afield where schemes like Help to Buy are a necessary tonic spurring new buyers onto the housing ladder.”
