The Financial Times (FT) Price Index found that house prices in England and Wales fell for the fourth consecutive month in June (-0.6%). Dr Peter Williams, chairman of Acadametrics, who conducts the research, has urged the Government to act now to help the property market.

This is the first time since April 1995 that house prices have fallen for a fourth consecutive month, with the average house price standing at £227,344 in June. The index also found that house prices continued to grow annually but that this had now fallen to 1.2% which is the 10 th consecutive month that growth has fallen and this is the lowest level of growth since April 1996. Regionally, only Greater London and the South East had annual growth of over 3% with the North West, Wales and the East Midlands falling into negative territory by a maximum of -1.6%.
Acadametrics warned that these are all signs of the market slowdown gathering momentum. Williams told PIN: “The index results show that the market is declining severely and is getting worse day-by-day. The Government currently lacks any urgency and the housing market cannot wait another 2-3 months for any more reviews. The Government needs to increase the size and the speed of its intervention. All the signs are there that the market is getting seriously worse very quickly. If a package was put in place comparable to that of the early 90s then it would need to be between £1-2bn rather than the £300m that has currently been invested. The market needs action and it needs action now.”