British House Prices Up Sales Volumes Awful

The Land Registry's latest press release states:

April house prices up 0.2 per cent since March: average house price in England and Wales now £165,596

The April data from Land Registry's flagship House Price Index shows an annual price increase of 8.5 per cent. This is the sixth month in a row in which the figure has been positive and takes the average property value in England and Wales to £165,596. The monthly change from March to April is a rise of 0.2 per cent.

All regions in England and Wales experienced increases in their average property values over the last 12 months. The region with the highest annual price change is London with an increase of 14.8 per cent. The region with the smallest annual price rise is Yorkshire and The Humber with a movement of 0.7 per cent.

The North East experienced the greatest monthly rise with a movement of 3.1 per cent. Yorkshire and The Humber is the region with the most significant monthly price fall with a movement of -2.2 per cent.

The most up-to-date figures available show that during February 2010, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales rose by 49 per cent to 40,502 from 27,190 in February 2009.

What is worth bearing in mind is that  the 27,190 figure was an all time low since records began, and the 40,000 figure is bouncing around at well under the average sales volumes of between 80-110,000 units per month. Which is a little like saying it is not raining much compared to a Tsunami.

Clearly these sales volumes are un-sustainable and one has to expect another round of estate agent culling this year. We have already lost around 40% of estate agents since the peak, but with sales at this level? And how long before property prices in the UK are allowed to correct to a sensible level? This is the Land Registry data in graph form: