England and Wales House Prices Fall 0.8% in January - Land Registry

According to Land Registry figures released today Wales and England property prices saw a monthly fall of 0.8%, January 2009 compared to December 2008, making the annual fall 15.1% according to the Land Registry index. This is based on the Land Registries average price of houses in England and Wales, which now stands at: £156,753.

The Halifax house price index showed a slight, 1.9% monthly growth in UK property prices in January. The gap could be attributed to the fact that the Land Registry figures don't include Scotland property, which is displaying incredible resilience to the credit crunch. However, the Halifax results also included Ireland property prices, which have been worst affected by the credit-crunch, so one would have thought this would have gone some way to balancing it out.

For property prices in England and Wales The land registry is likely to be one of the, if not the most accurate, because they record transactions of all registered land in the British Isles, while the Halifax index for instance is based on only the transactions, in which it is involved either as a mortgage lender, estate agent, or other professional capacity. And also more accurate , because the Land Registry does not have a vital interest in expediting the UK property market recovery -- at least no more than any of us do anyway. Not that I am saying the alifax index is embellished, but the potential bias of a source must be taken into consideration.

That said; I believe the Land Registry figures are good news for the property market in England and Wales, because it is my opinion that the fall is necessary to for the recovery to begin; and the quicker prices hit their bottom the sooner price growth can restart. I hold this view because the recovery is dependent on greatly increased sales, which will not be seen until the gap is closed between what sellers are willing to drop to, and what buyers think they should be paying.