Survey sees house price slowdown

Other surveys suggested a sharp fall in prices in March

The annual rate of house price growth has slowed for the seventh month in a row in England and Wales, according to the Land Registry.

The annual increase was 3.6% in March compared with 5.3% in February, with the average home now costing £184,798.

Month-on-month, house prices fell by 0.4% in England and Wales, the seasonally-adjusted data showed.

It is the latest survey to confirm house prices dropped in March, although others suggested bigger falls.

Actual sales

Unlike other surveys, the Land Registry figures are calculated from actual sale prices of properties in England and Wales, rather than lenders' data.

The cooling of the housing market owing to the credit crunch was revealed through the actual number of recorded sales.

From October to January there was an average of 81,926 sales in England and Wales per month.

That was a fall of 26% compared with the same period a year earlier and was a trend seen across England and Wales.

Comparing January 2007 and January 2008, the number of houses sold in the £150,000 to £200,000 bracket fell by 44%.

Surveys' findings

The lag in data means the Land Registry house price figures are slightly behind other surveys by the country's biggest mortgage lenders.

The Halifax and Nationwide both reported a fall in UK prices when they announced their figures for March.

Prices fell by 2.5% in March, the biggest monthly decline since September 1992, the Halifax said. Nationwide reported a 0.6% dip for the same month, cutting the annual rate of increase to 1.1%

Both Halifax and Nationwide will publish their house price indexes for April in the next few days.

Regional breakdown

The Land Registry's survey is the only one to provide an accurate picture of prices down to postcode level.

It showed that in two regions average prices fell year-on-year, falling by 0.7% in the East Midlands and 1.3% in Wales.

The biggest fall in prices in March compared with February was also in Wales, down 2.2%.

More locally, homeowners in Conwy and Wrexham faced biggest annual price falls, down 2.8%.

Prices were still rising highest year-on-year in Greater London (up 10.5%), although the affluent borough of Islington experienced the most significant monthly price fall in the capital in March, down 1.7%.

Middlesbrough was the only other area in England and Wales - under a county or unitary authority - to see an annual rise of above 10%.