House prices 'now top £200,000'

The average house price in Kensington & Chelsea is nearly £1m

The average house in England and Wales now costs more than £200,000, according to the Land Registry.

Its latest quarterly report, which studies sales between July and September, shows that the average price rose to £211,453, up 9% on the year.

The most expensive county in which to buy a property was Surrey, where prices averaged £351,000.

But prices were higher in nine London boroughs, with properties in Kensington & Chelsea costing £942,000 on average.

The number of properties being sold in England & Wales was up 17% on a year ago. However, while still a sharp rise, this annual growth rate is lower than that recorded in the previous three months.

Buoyant market

The Land Registry figures confirm other evidence from lenders and market experts that show the property market has been very buoyant this year.

The strength in the market has come despite the rise in interest rates in August and the widespread expectation that the Bank of England will push rates even higher when it meets this week.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) called for the bank to lift rates.

"The recovery of the economy this year has exceeded all expectations," said RICS chief economist Milan Khatri.

"The stock market is at its highest level for over 5 years and there has yet to be any noticeable negative impact from the August interest rate rise on the economy or the housing market," he added.

Onwards and upwards

The seemingly relentless rise in property values is rapidly eliminating the number of low-priced houses on the market.

The number of houses or flats being sold for less than £30,000 has more than halved over the last year. Between July and September 2005, 1,441 properties in this price range were sold, but in the same three months this year just 686 were sold.

Only three areas of England and Wales still have an average property price below £100,000.

These are Stoke-on-Trent (£99,000), Kingston-upon-Hull (£91,000) and Blaenau Gwent (£88,000).

Meanwhile the number of properties selling for more than £1m has risen by 52% over the past year to 1,731.

However, a few places have missed out on the latest leg of the house price boom.

In the past year, prices have actually fallen in Blackpool, Anglesey, Leicester and Monmouthshire.

Different surveys

The Land Registry recently launched a new monthly house price index which indicated that in October the average house price in England and Wales was only £169,569.

A spokeswoman for the Land Registry said that the two reports were not comparable.

While the quarterly report records the average price of all house sales, the new survey only measures the prices of properties that have been sold at least twice - repeat sales - since April 2000.

It is also seasonally adjusted, whereas the quarterly report is not.

AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES BY REGION
REGION	July - Sept 2005	July - Sept 2006	Increase
North	£130,948	£143,297	9%
North West	£139,929	£152,491	9%
Yorks & Humberside	£141,582	£153,560	8%
Wales	£145,188	£154,741	7%
West Midlands	£161,076	£173,778	8%
East Midlands	£155,630	£163,075	5%
East Anglia	£180,053	£194,543	8%
South West	£202,249	£217,222	7%
South East	£243,833	£251,008	7%
Greater London	£300,329	£330,838	10%
Source: Land Registry