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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

UK house price growth slows in July, ONS reveals

House price inflation across the UK dropped to 8.3% in the year to July, down from 9.7% in June, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The property price data - for the first full month after the Brexit vote - reveal that the average price of a home across the UK in July increased to £217,000, led by gains in the east of England, where the annual rate of inflation was 13.2%.

Residential property prices in London rose by 12.3% year-on-year, but continued to fall in parts of central London, like Hammersmith and Fulham.

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The ONS data follows on from the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ report which shows that the UK housing market remains stable following the Brexit vote, with surveyors now expecting property  prices to rise by an average of 3.3% a year over the next five years.

“Another dose of robust data and the post-Brexit bounce is starting to look less like a blip and more like business as usual for house prices,” said Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Garrington Property Finders.

But Hopper accepts that it is too soon too soon to dismiss what he described as “the Brexit effect”, with some economists forecasting a decline of up to 5% in house prices next year.

But Andrew Bridges, managing director of Stirling Ackroyd, expects to see the chronic shortage of properties continue to drive house prices upwards across Britain.

“Rising prices are being fuelled by the ongoing shortfall of properties on the market - there are simply not enough people selling or enough new homes being built to match demand,” he said.

As the government falls well behind in achieving its target of one million new homes by 2020, Bridges is calling on Philip Hammond to introduce radical new policies in his Autumn Statement if he hopes to get Britain building again.

He continued: “The chancellor should consider scrapping Osborne’s stamp duty hike which continues to cripple the top of the market, reducing the incentive to sell homes in London and further pushing up prices. Summer may be coming to an end, but perhaps it’s time for a holiday – a stamp duty holiday to get the market moving.”

 

England by region

Monthly change % since June 2016

Annual change % since July 2015

Average price July 2016

East Midlands

0.5

7.8

£173,783

East of England

0.6

13.2

£273,806

London

1.0

12.3

£484,716

North East

2.3

5.8

£129,750

North West

0.8

6.1

£150,082

South East

0.6

11.9

£313,315

South West

-0.3

7.8

£237,291

West Midlands

-0.8

6.4

£176,598

Yorkshire and The Humber

0.2

4.7

£151,581

 

 

 

Wales

Monthly change % since June 2016

Annual change % since July 2015

Average price

July 2016

Wales

-1.8

4.0

£144,828

 

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