Property prices ups and downs, again.

According to the latest Rightmove House Price Index for May 2011, the UK property Market is remaining in a state of limbo. A lack of proceedable buyers is not helping, and a it would appear that most new sellers are marketing under forced sale conditions, sometimes holding out for unrealistic asking prices. Although there is also conflicting data from other sources.

London property prices buck the trend.

Some London based agents are reporting that the average price of a house in North London is now £367,594 – around 1.2% higher compared to last year. The average price of a house in South London is £305,249, which is an annual increase of only 0.2%.

According to the latest Chesterton Humberts/cebr APRIL 2011 House Price Poll of Polls, this makes North London house prices £62,345 more expensive on average compared to South London. The gulf between the two areas has continued to widen, from last years’ gap of £58,595.

Whereas the latest data from the Communities and Local Government department show UK house prices fell slightly in the first three months of the year.

Apparently From January through to the end of March this year house prices were 0.5% lower than for the previous three months.

Gross mortgage lending tumbled by 14% in April to an estimated £9.8 billion, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Interest Rates are not the only factor

According to research by the Halifax many homeowners may have benefitted from low interest rates, but they are currently facing their highest household costs for three years.

They say that Over the past year, the average annual cost associated with owning and running a home rose by 1.4% (£127) from £8956 in March 2010 to £9083 in March 2011.

So once again there are conflicting news items about property prices, and it’s not all bad news all of the time. This has to be good news for property developers.