Price rises in June

National average house price growth hit its highest level since March 2005 in June, according to the latest report from the Department of Community and Local Government. Average house prices rose by 1.6% month-on-month in June, compared with a rise of 0.45 in the same month last year, the figures reveal, putting annual house price inflation at 12.1%, up from 10.8% in May. Regionally, inflation fell in Wales and remained the same in Scotland, while England saw a rise to 11.0%, and Northern Ireland saw inflation rise again to 55.9%. The highest inflation rate remains in London (17.5%), while the lowest is in the North East (8.1%). This data looks positive, although as some others in the industry have reported, more sombre results were delivered for July, and this trend seems likely to continue throughout the year. 'Clearly, the overall tone of today's data was fairly strong. However, note that this report is not seasonally adjusted,' said Kelvin Davidson from Capital Economics. 'What's more, the CLG data lag other house price indices by a month, and the Nationwide, for example, reported a weak result in July... we expect house price growth to be markedly weaker by the end of the year.'