House price growth slows
May 21, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
UK house prices have risen at their lowest rate this year, with Home Information Packs (Hips) and interest rates being named as the reasons.
May house prices increased by an average of just 0.4 per cent, with some regions actually seeing prices fall.
The east Midlands, west Midlands, north, and north-west of England all saw the average price come down but areas such as London and East Anglia saw strong rises.
The figures come from estate agent Rightmove and the firm says that with the introduction of Hips now just days away, it is almost impossible to predict what will happen to the market.
“It’s all rather confusing at the moment,” said Miles Shipside from the firm. “The future direction of the market is very hard to read with two external influences likely to coincide at once.
“You have the potential of Hips artificially increasing the supply of property and, within the same month, a six-year high in interest rates potentially depressing the number of buyers.”
If prices continue to level out it will be good news for those seeking to get a mortgage, particularly first-time buyers who are struggling to get onto the property ladder.
