The number of house sales has fallen, the Land Registry has reported.
From October to January, there were an average of 54,810 transactions per month, compared with 56,556 for the same period a year earlier.
In January itself – the latest month for which the Land Registry has transaction data – there were just 41,763 house sales, down from 43,752 in January 2012.
Noticeably, all the falls in sales volumes were in the lower priced properties: this included a 5% drop in the number of properties being sold between £200,001 and £250,000, and a 10% drop in the £150,001 to £200,000 price bracket.
By contrast, and almost without exception, the higher the price band, the better the pick-up in sales volumes: there was a 21% increase in the number of properties selling at over £1m, a 27% rise in the number of properties selling at over £1.5m and a 52% rise in the number selling at over £2m.
Average house prices in England and Wales crept up by just 0.1% to £161,793 in March, the Land Registry also reported. After inclusion of repossession data, the adjusted average price was £159,708.
In London, the monthly price increase was 2.5%, taking annual house price inflation to 9.6% – far higher than anywhere else. The average price of a property in London is £374,568.
In a number of regions, house prices slipped back in March – including the South-East, South-West, North-East and North-West. In the latter two regions, house prices have fallen over the year by 5.5% and 4.9% respectively.
Repossessions between October and January averaged 1,458 a month, down from 1,700 per month for the same period 12 months previously.
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