Land Registry: Prices static in Feb
House prices in England and Wales remained unchanged in February, although the annual rate of growth continued to fall, according to the latest monthly figures from the Land Registry.
The government body’s house price index, which releases figures one month in arrears, showed the average price of a home remained flat at £185,616.
But there were signs of continued weakness in the housing market, as the rate of year-on-year price growth dropped for the sixth month running to 5.3% – down from 6.4% in January.
London showed its first monthly dip for some time with prices down 0.4%, leaving the average price for a house in the capital at £353,760. Despite this, London still claims the biggest annual rise, with average growth over the year remaining higher than any other region at 10.6%.
The biggest fall in prices was in Wales, where the average cost of a home dropped by 1.1% to £140,031.
Only three regions - the East Midlands, the West Midlands and Yorkshire - saw prices rise in February.
Land Registry figures for the number of sales during the fourth quarter of 2007 also confirmed the sharp slump in the market already reported by lenders and estate agents.
Between September and December, transactions averaged 90,880 a month, down 22.5% from 117,301 in the same period of the previous year.
The number of properties sold in England and Wales for more than £1m also dropped, falling by 30% to 381. In London the number decreased by 34% to 215.