Data from the Land Registry show a decrease in prices in seven out of ten areas with a sharp rise in sales of £1m properties.
The average house price in England and Wales has remained level at £172,011 and remains below the all time high of £181,466 reached in November 2007.
Seven regions experienced a fall in house prices with Yorkshire and the Humber leading the way on a 1.3% decrease followed by North East of England on 1.0%, East Midlands on 1.0% and South West of England on 0.9%.
The biggest increase was West Midlands increasing average house prices by 1.9%.
London leading annual change
Over the last year London house prices have increased by 16.4% to a new average of £437,608. For England and Wales house prices were higher by 6.4% year on year.
This compares to the lowest rise in the North East of England with a 0.8% rise and average prices there of only £98,555.
In terms of completed house sales, the Land Registry shows a significant increase compared to a year ago of 31% to 66,659 during April.
For April the number of sales of £1 million properties increased by 39% to 1,028.
Mortgage lending decreasing
According to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) the numbers of mortgage approvals have decreased by 10.9% from 48,555 January to 43,265 in June.
There may be fewer suitable homes on the market as the equity release mortgage buyer can avoid downsizing to access money from their home for holidays, home improvements or even help your children start or expand a business.
On a month on month basis mortgage approvals are slightly higher by 3.3% and year on year higher by 14% to June.
For remortgage buyers there have been a decrease of 17% in the number of mortgage approvals since January and this is 73% lower than pre financial crisis levels.
The recent fall since January was due to lenders changing their systems to deal with the mortgage market review (MMR). The MMR requires lenders to check affordability of mortgages for homebuyers, now and if interest rates rise in the future.
This includes first time buyers, remortgage buyers and home movers. Lenders must take into account income and outgoings such as child care, holidays and living costs.
In addition steps have been taken by the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, to cap the number of mortgages with high multiples of 4.5 times income.
The cap requires that no more than 15% of mortgage approvals can have high multiples.
What are your next steps?
Talk to our London City Mortgage brokers for advice if you remortgage your existing home and want the best mortgage deal or release capital, buying your first home, moving home or are a buy-to-let investor.
For older homeowners releasing equity from your property, our LCM mortgage advisers can recommend the lifetime mortgage, accessing wealth to gift to a family member or friend or buy a more expensive home.
Learn more by using the equity release calculator, mortgage cost calculators, and property value tracker chart. Start with a free mortgage quote or call us and we can take your details.
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