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 House price inflation squeezes first-time buyers
The rate of house price inflation accelerated to a 14 month high in July 2006, government figures show.
Annual house price inflation in July stood at six per cent, an increase from 5.3 per cent in June, the report from the Department for Communities and Local Government stated.
The average house price in the UK stood at £194,454 in July, up from £191,016 in June.
A key driver for the rise in UK house price growth between June and July was the 0.6 per cent rise in the average price for a detached house, the 0.5 per cent rise in the average price for a terraced house and the 0.5 per cent rise in the average price for a semi detached house, the report said.
Despite a fall in the house price inflation rate for first-time buyer properties, buying a house would still be tough for many first-time buyers, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said.
"House price rises for first-time buyer properties fell back in July but at 5.6 per cent is still running above average wage rises, increasing difficulties for would-be buyers to get on to the housing ladder," said Rics..
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London premium house price growth slows
London's premium properties experienced their lowest monthly house price growth since September 2005 last month.
Figures from premium estate agent Knight Frank revealed that house prices for top London properties grew by under one per cent in August.
However, the summer cool-down in prices comes after a year of high prices for London's top addresses, with houses now 21.2 per cent more expensive than they were a year ago.
Far from being unexpected, the slowing in house price growth for this area of the housing market was expected, said Knight Frank, and was nothing to do with the rise in interest rates early in the month making mortgages too costly.
"The recent rate of price growth was unsustainable in the longer term and a shift to a lower rate of growth was to be expected," said head of research at Knight Frank.
"The rate would need to rise to 5.5 per cent to begin to impact on the prime central London market.
"The wider global demand for property in central London means UK base rate changes have less impact than in other more mainstream UK markets."
London's prime homes are the most expensive in the world, according to Hamptons International, with property costing around £1,200 per square foot, compared to £1,000 in New York.
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