Annual House Price Growth Slows to 5.5%
Annual house price growth slowed to 5.5% in June 2016 – down from 7.8% in May, Rightmove’s House Price Index has found.
Between May and June asking prices still rose by 0.8% to stand at £310,471.
The number of newly marketed properties fell by 5.3% compared to the average at this time of year, which Rightmove attributed to EU Referendum-induced uncertainty.
Jeremy Duncombe, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “We’ve had promise after promise and policy after policy when it comes to tackling the housing crisis, but the simple fact is that these words have not been met by action on the ground.
“Not only does that mean building thousands more homes across the country, but also making use of our existing housing stock by offering incentives like stamp duty reductions for those looking to downsize.”
The fastest growing areas were the East of England (9.4%), the South East (6.9%) and Wales (6.0%).
At the other end of the spectrum prices rose by just 2.6% in Yorkshire and the Humber and 3.1% in the North East.
Adrian Whittaker, sales director at New Street Mortgages, said: “These figures from Rightmove show a continued increase in house prices, but it’s important to remember that much of this has been strongly driven by increases in the price of high value properties, and properties in London. Average value properties in the rest of the UK have not seen such strong growth.
“The UK property market is comprised of many smaller markets that behave in different ways, and for different reasons. Smart lenders that can react to these differences have a real opportunity to provide added value to borrowers by reflecting these changes.”
