The LSL Acadametrics England & Wales House Price Index increased by £465, or 0.2%, during November.
In the 11 months of 2012, the average price of properties sold in England & Wales has risen on eight occasions, fallen twice and remained steady once.
The average house price has risen by just over £7,000 during the year. However, in the first six months of the year the index rose cumulatively by 3.2%, whereas in the last five months the index has remained flat at 0.0% on the same basis.
Dr Peter Williams, chairman of Acadametrics, said: “Over the last 12 months average house prices have risen by 3.3% in England & Wales as a whole and we anticipate that the outturn for the year will be broadly similar.
“Given that the annual rate of house price inflation was negative for the last eight months of 2011, the positive movement in prices in 2012 does suggest a modest turnaround in what might be called the real housing market. This compares with the picture portrayed by the narrower mortgage-based indices which exclude cash transactions.
“With a substantial shortage of mortgages, cash accounts for some 35% of transactions and is more significant than this in specified sub-markets, ie, at both the top and the bottom of the market.”
David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services, added: “Sales activity and house prices held up well in November. Cash rich buyers took advantage of falling mortgage rates, and housing supply in the most sought after areas remained tight, which helped push up prices marginally.
“Sales numbers failed to dip as we would normally expect in the month, and are on a par with the traditionally busier October. In part, this is down to the five working Fridays in November, which allowed more completions ahead of weekends than usual.
“There also have been signs of limited improvement in overall lending levels in the last few months, but any progress in the mortgage market has been top heavy. Lenders remain risk averse and conscious of capital requirements, and those that have started to tap the Funding for Lending scheme have been directing additional funding towards buyers with larger deposits and buy-to-let investors looking to capitalise on attractive yields.”
