UK House prices in February rose by 1.9%

- House prices in February rose by 1.9% Page 4
The average price of all residential property transactions completed in England & Wales in February 2010 was 1.9% higher than in January. This is the tenth month in succession in which AcadHPI has increased on a monthly basis. This figure is at odds with other indices which show a fall, a point we explore later.

- Annual price increase is 9.7% Page 4
On an annual basis, in February, the average price of all residential property transactions in England & Wales was 9.7% higher than a year ago - a significant market recovery. It is the fourth consecutive month in which the annual rate of change in house prices is positive.

- January housing transactions fall by more than 50% from December levels Page 3
The housing market in England & Wales got off to a very slow start in January 2010 with an estimated 36,000 transactions in total. This is a fall of 52% from the December 2009 level of activity and is the second lowest level of sales in January in the last 16 years.

Dr Peter Williams, Chairman of Acadametrics, said
“The average price of a home rose again in February 2010 and, at £222,008, is back to where it was in April 2007, three years ago. The increase of 1.9% is the tenth in succession and a further step up from the previous month of January at 1.4%. Given that the two lender mortgage approval based indices for February showed falls of -1.0% and -1.5%, we have a clear tension as to what is really happening in the market. The AcadHPI for the latest month is forecast on a mix of data but, as prior months show, when more data becomes available is impressively stable and reliable. In seeking answers to the current divergence we would stress AcadHPI is a completion based measure, it covers England and Wales rather than the UK and it includes all properties sold including cash purchases and homes sold for over £1 million. All of these will be factors in explaining the difference.”

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