First monthly increase in house prices in England and Wales since March

Transactions are up 4 per cent year on year in third quarter and rally by a quarter in prime central London

Average house prices saw a return to growth in November a er several months of slowdown. The average value of a home in England and Wales in the month increased by £818, up 0.3 per cent. At £300,859 in November, the average price also remains above the £300,000 mark, which it crossed last December.

On an annual basis, growth continues to weaken. At 0.9 per cent it’s at its lowest since April 2012, but the return to monthly growth may signal the culmination of a turnaround that can be seen since September, when monthly price falls started to slow. London and the South East remain a pull on the market, though.

Without them, annual price increases are 3.3 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in October.

Transactions in November 2017 in England & Wales are estimated to be 77,500, marginally up on the same month last year.

Prices in the Greater London area fell 0.6 per cent in October to £586,987, down 3 per cent from a year ago. The key pressure on prices continues to be a ordability, and recently published  gures from the O ce for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) show the scale of the challenge.

Taking the ASHE  gures for median annual earnings in the capital (£36,010) as a ratio to median house prices (£460,000) gives a  gure of 12.8. That compares to just 4.7 and 4.8 in Scotland and the North East, respectively – the two cheapest regions in the UK.

The impact of a ordability is also re ected where prices have been dropping most: the 11 most expensive of London’s 33 boroughs have seen prices fall 5 per cent in the last 12 months; the second 11 are down 2.6 per cent; and the cheapest third have risen 0.2 per cent.