Paul Diggle, property economist at Capital Economics, said: “Despite some upward revisions to the last few months of data and a marginal further rise in June, [the] Land Registry index adds to the emerging evidence that house prices may have reached a turning point.
“Following upwardly revised growth of 0.2% in May, the Land Registry Repeat Sales Index, which lags the more timely Nationwide and Halifax indices, rose by 0.1% in June. This leaves house prices in England and Wales 8.4% higher than a year earlier. Average house prices have been all but flat thus far in 2010.
“The regional breakdown showed that the North East, North West, West Midlands, South East and South West saw prices decline by between 0.6% and 1.3% in June. In the five remaining regions prices rose by between 0.5% and 2.9%, with Wales posting the strongest growth.
“Prices in three of the 10 regions of England and Wales were lower in June compared to the start of the year. Of the seven regions where prices are up over the year, Wales and Yorkshire & Humberside have posted the strongest growth. But even then, prices are up by just 2.3% and 2% respectively.
“The number of completed sales fell for the first time in three months in April, by a marginal 0.5%.
“This leaves activity levels up 40% since the start of the year. Even so, at 49,323, sales are running at around half the level that was typical for April prior to the recession.
“More timely sales data from HMRC show that activity levels have since failed to improve further.
“The latest data from the Land Registry confirmed the weak picture for house prices in the first six months of this year that had already been seen in the Nationwide and Halifax indices.
“Marginal growth in June does nothing to dissuade us that house prices will fall back in the second half of the year and into 2011.”
