The average price of a property in the UK has fallen by around 10 per cent year-on-year to the end of August 2008, but how are house prices performing where you live?
By Gordon Miller
4Homes Essentials
Property Search
UK Region Ratings
All this talk of house prices falling – and, worse still, of a house price crash – has left many of us fearful about the value of our own homes. But as many experts, including Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp, continue to underline, the property market differs greatly from region to region – and some aren’t suffering nearly as much as others. So, how do you tell the difference between the headlines and the truth about your area?
The answer is that you have to do a little research. Actually, you don’t – we’ll do most of it for you and keep you updated regularly. Want to know how we do it so you can check yourself? Here’s how. The Land Registry publishes both accurate and impartial statistics about the housing market in England and Wales – you just need to bear in mind that they run three months in arrears. For a quick, at-a-glance look at what these statistics are saying, you can also look at the BBC’s league tables.
Another site worth checking out is upmystreet.com which publishes all manner of data by area and postcode, including house prices. The bi-annual statistics it publishes are based on the Land Registry actual sold prices.
Tables published give at-a-glance, quarterly house prices as far back as 1995 (when the national average was £63,514), and also publishes the average sold house price in a particular area when compared to the national average. Today, the national average sold house price is £217,136, according to upmystreet.com.
Building societies are well placed to provide data too, which is primarily based on the value of the mortgages they underwrite. Halifax publishes monthly reports with market analysis and comment. It will often take a thematic look at a particular market aspect. In the latest report, August 2008, it examines the regional impact of the raising of the stamp duty threshold to £175,000.
A published regional table shows that only 12 per cent of total sales were below £175,000 in London over the past year compared to 75 per cent in the North. It reveals that almost a quarter of a million (230,000) homebuyers in England and Wales would not have paid stamp duty over the past year if the threshold had been £175,000 rather than £125,000.
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