Home Asking Price Index, April 2007: London soars whilst some regions suffer
Asking prices in England and Wales rose 1.0% in April 2007, reaching their highest level since November 2004, while London prices surged 1.9%.
This is the April 2007 edition of the Home Asking Price Index, released on 12 April 2007, under the headline:
London Soars Whilst Some Regions Suffer
The headlines and summary below are the report's own words, with the key figures as it published them, followed by the report's charts and regional tables as printed.
Headlines
- Asking Prices for homes in England and Wales moved up to their highest point since November 2004 with a monthly rise of 1.0%.
- Asking Prices in England and Wales have risen 5.0% in the last year and 3.7% over the last 6 months. (ca. 2.2% above the CPI, ca. 0.6% above the RPI and ca. 1.4% above the AEI excluding bonuses).
- Greater London Asking Prices again accounted for much of this continued surge registering a monthly rise in the average market house price of 1.9%.
- Asking Prices in the East Midlands fell by 0.9% over the last 12 months.
Summary
A further month of strong gains for asking prices in England and Wales has pushed the year-on-year change up to 5%. Fears of an overall slowdown in the UK residential property market, following interest rate rises totalling 0.75% by the Bank of England, appear to have been unfounded as evidenced by the strength of this second wave of asking price inflation. However, several English regions lag far behind the national figures, such as the North and East Midlands where market house prices have actually fallen over the last twelve months. Asking prices are rising more quickly in Greater London than in any other region registering a further large monthly rise of 1.9% since March.
Prices of homes on the market are now closing fast on previous highs set in 2004. Due to the apparent greater volatility of the London property market, asking prices fell further and faster in the Capital (relative to the combined index for England and Wales) during the two-year correction brought about by an overheated and frothy market. Thus far, the recent surge has returned Greater London asking prices to the same relative value recorded in July 04. This strong rising trend looks set to continue and thereby set new highs in Greater London housing market.
Key figures
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Monthly change in asking prices | 1.0% |
| Annual change in asking prices | 5.0% |
| 6-month change in asking prices | 3.7% |
| Retail Price Index (RPI) | 4.4% |
Figures are for England and Wales unless the report states otherwise, as published in the edition.
Charts from the report
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices. [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices. [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Index based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Laspeyres Indices based on Weighted Arithmetic Mean of Regional House Prices [May04 = 100]
Source: HM Land Registry
Regional tables
Regional Housing Markets
| Scotland | £163,024 | +9.4% |
| Wales | £195,730 | +8.6% |
| Greater London | £332,112 | +8.2% |
| South West | £268,415 | +7.9% |
| South East | £283,855 | +6.0% |
| West Midlands | £204,248 | +3.8% |
| Yorkshire and Humber | £173,796 | +3.2% |
| East Anglia | £258,878 | +2.8% |
| North West | £188,275 | +1.8% |
| North | £166,803 | -0.5% |
| East Midlands | £189,644 | -0.9% |
Regional average asking prices for April 07 showing gains and losses since April 06.
Read the full April 2007 edition (PDF, 10 pages)
About the Home Asking Price Index
The Home Asking Price Index measures the change in the prices sellers ask for residential property across England, Wales and Scotland. Today it is computed every month from around half a million advertised homes and is mix-adjusted, so a change in what happens to be on the market does not move the figure; earlier editions state the sample they were built from. Because an asking price is set months before a sale completes, the index runs around five months ahead of completed-sale measures such as the UK House Price Index.
Every edition in the archive, back to October 2006, is listed on the index page. How we measure the UK property market explains the listing data behind it, and today's figures by area are on house prices and rental prices.
Text and figures above are quoted from the April 2007 edition as published, with punctuation normalised for the web, and are not revised. Later editions may restate them.
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