House prices fell 0.8% in February, to finish the month 1.7% lower than February 2010, the Land Registry has reported.
The average house price in England and Wales is now £162,215 – in line with Nationwide and Halifax surveys, but a long way detached from Rightmove’s asking prices.
Rightmove’s current asking price is £231,790. By coincidence, while actual house prices fell 0.8% according to the Land Registryin February, asking prices rose 0.8% for properties new to the market on Rightmove between mid February andmid March.
.Sales volumes averaged 56,257 per month from September to December 2010, says the Land Registry. This is a fall from the 65,939 average for the same period 12 months before this.
In the month of December itself, there were just 54,812 transactions, down an astonishing 30% from the figure of 78,438 in December 2009. Both sets of figures are way below the norm: in December 2006, more than 122,000 homes changed hands.
House prices showed a dramatic divergence in London, where they shot up 3.2% between February 2010 and 2011, despite a 0.5% drop in the month – against the national trend.
The biggest monthly fall was in the North-East, where house prices dropped 4% in the month, and 7.1% in the year.
Housing pundit Henry Pryor said there is now a house price recession.
He said: “Prices continued their slide in February, falling 0.8% on the month before, the sixth consecutive monthly fall in a row.
"That's two continuous quarters of negative growth or the accepted definition of a recession when talking about national output.”
*The number of loan approvals given for house purchase in February was 46,967 – very slightly higher than the previous six-month average of 46,413 and showing almost no change year on year.
Figures from the Bank of England show that approvals for remortgaging stood at 35,725, a big rise on the previous six-month average of 31,674, and 35% higher than the figure of 26,469 in February 2010.
